The Swindon plant manufactures over 150,000 Honda Civic cars per year. It employs 3,500 people, and thousands more in the UK are supported by its supply chain.

The 2021 closure date coincides with the planned end of its current model’s production lifecycle. The company will also be ending production of its Civic sedan at its Turkish plant in 2021, although it will continue operations in the country, Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo announced at a news conference in Tokyo.

According to the company, its proposed restructuring is likely to render the role of its UK manufacturing arm as a “global manufacturing hub” unviable. Instead, the new Civic model will be exported into Europe from Japan, with which the EU entered a free trade agreement this month.

The automotive industry is under pressure to shift towards cleaner vehicle designs – including fully electric cars – amid a fall in demand for diesel and stronger emissions regulations. Honda’s decision has been made in response to these “unprecedented changes” in the industry, the company stated, with manufacturing operations shifting towards regions where it expects to have high production volumes.

“In light of the unprecedented changes that are affecting our industry, it is vital that we accelerate our electrification strategy and restructure our global operations accordingly,” said Katsushi Inoue, president of Honda Motor Europe. “As a result, we have had to take this difficult decision to consult our workforce on how we might prepare our manufacturing network for the future. This has not been taken lightly and we deeply regret how unsettling today’s announcement will be for our people.”

Honda is expected to begin consulting with the Unite union today.

“As Honda have said, this is a commercial decision based on unprecedented changes in the global market. Regardless, this is a devastating decision for Swindon and the UK,” said Business Secretary Greg Clark. “This news is a particularly bitter blow to the thousands of skilled and dedicated staff who work at the factory, their families and all of those employed in the supply chain.”

Clark added that he would set up a taskforce in Swindon to ensure the skills of the workforce were retained, and that the employees would move into appropriate new employment.

“The automotive industry is undergoing a rapid transition to new technology,” he said. “The UK is one of the leaders of the development of these technologies and so it is deeply disappointing that this decision has been taken now.”

Unions have questioned, however, whether the decision could be linked to ongoing Brexit uncertainties, which the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Jaguar Land Rover, and Aston Martin have publicly warned the government against.

Des Quinn, Unite national officer for the automotive sector commented that: “We acknowledge the global challenges that Honda has outlined in its statement, but we don’t accept that this plant, with its highly skilled and dedicated workforce does not have a viable future.”

“We believe that the uncertainty that the Tory government has created by its inept and rigid handling of the Brexit negotiations lurks in the background. If the government had delivered a strong and stable Brexit that protected the economy and jobs, we may well have been in a very different position today.”

Earlier this month, Japanese automaker Nissan announced it would be manufacturing its next generation X-Trail model in Japan, shifting production away from its UK Sunderland plant.  Nissan Chair Gianluca de Ficchy said that while “business reasons” motivated the decision: “clearly the uncertainty around the UK’s future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours to plan for the future.”

The Swindon plant manufactures over 150,000 Honda Civic cars per year. It employs 3,500 people, and thousands more in the UK are supported by its supply chain.

The 2021 closure date coincides with the planned end of its current model’s production lifecycle. The company will also be ending production of its Civic sedan at its Turkish plant in 2021, although it will continue operations in the country, Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo announced at a news conference in Tokyo.

According to the company, its proposed restructuring is likely to render the role of its UK manufacturing arm as a “global manufacturing hub” unviable. Instead, the new Civic model will be exported into Europe from Japan, with which the EU entered a free trade agreement this month.

The automotive industry is under pressure to shift towards cleaner vehicle designs – including fully electric cars – amid a fall in demand for diesel and stronger emissions regulations. Honda’s decision has been made in response to these “unprecedented changes” in the industry, the company stated, with manufacturing operations shifting towards regions where it expects to have high production volumes.

“In light of the unprecedented changes that are affecting our industry, it is vital that we accelerate our electrification strategy and restructure our global operations accordingly,” said Katsushi Inoue, president of Honda Motor Europe. “As a result, we have had to take this difficult decision to consult our workforce on how we might prepare our manufacturing network for the future. This has not been taken lightly and we deeply regret how unsettling today’s announcement will be for our people.”

Honda is expected to begin consulting with the Unite union today.

“As Honda have said, this is a commercial decision based on unprecedented changes in the global market. Regardless, this is a devastating decision for Swindon and the UK,” said Business Secretary Greg Clark. “This news is a particularly bitter blow to the thousands of skilled and dedicated staff who work at the factory, their families and all of those employed in the supply chain.”

Clark added that he would set up a taskforce in Swindon to ensure the skills of the workforce were retained, and that the employees would move into appropriate new employment.

“The automotive industry is undergoing a rapid transition to new technology,” he said. “The UK is one of the leaders of the development of these technologies and so it is deeply disappointing that this decision has been taken now.”

Unions have questioned, however, whether the decision could be linked to ongoing Brexit uncertainties, which the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Jaguar Land Rover, and Aston Martin have publicly warned the government against.

Des Quinn, Unite national officer for the automotive sector commented that: “We acknowledge the global challenges that Honda has outlined in its statement, but we don’t accept that this plant, with its highly skilled and dedicated workforce does not have a viable future.”

“We believe that the uncertainty that the Tory government has created by its inept and rigid handling of the Brexit negotiations lurks in the background. If the government had delivered a strong and stable Brexit that protected the economy and jobs, we may well have been in a very different position today.”

Earlier this month, Japanese automaker Nissan announced it would be manufacturing its next generation X-Trail model in Japan, shifting production away from its UK Sunderland plant.  Nissan Chair Gianluca de Ficchy said that while “business reasons” motivated the decision: “clearly the uncertainty around the UK’s future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours to plan for the future.”