Honda announced the closure of its British Swindon plant in 2021
- Honda Group (Honda, Acura) announced the closure of its British Swindon plant in 2021. The manufacturer explains that vehicle electrification requires a review of its global production activities and a focus on regions where it expects high production volumes, such as Japan and China. In addition, Honda emphasizes the need to rationalize the production of the Honda Civic. This decision was not obvious as the Swindon plant had been chosen as the hub for Civic's production worldwide and had benefited from significant investments in 2015. According to Inovev, in addition to the factors stated by the manufacturer, others must be considered:
1. The European market has become a second-class market for Honda (the manufacturer occupies only 1% of this market and Europe represents only 3% of its worldwide sales), which makes the presence of assembly plants in Europe questionable.
2. The uncertainties of the last two years regarding the Brexit may also have played an important part in Honda's decision. Especially since this uncertainty is likely to continue.
- The Swindon plant, which was established in 1985, has a capacity of 250,000 units per year, which means that it currently operates at less than 65% of its capacity.
- This plant now only manufactures the Civic sedan, since CRV and Jazz have not been produced there for several months. In 2018, 137,000 Civic units were produced in this plant, of which nearly 40,000 were sold in Europe and 97,000 were exported to other regions of the world (including 54,000 units to the United States).
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