Honda to cut 800 jobs at UK plant due to weak demand across Europe
12 Jan 2013
Japanese carmaker Honda is planning to eliminate 800 jobs at its Swindon plant in the UK, its first ever in the country, due to weak demand across Europe.
Months after hiring 500 new people to its workforce in Swindon, the Minato, Tokyo-based company is cutting its workforce by almost a quarter, its first ever job cuts since it started manufacturing operations there in 1992.
The Swindon plant, which makes the Civic, CR-V and Jazz models, employs around 3,500 people. In 2012, the plant manufactured 166,000 cars, well below its capacity of 250,000 cars.
In 2011, the plant produced only 97,000 cars, significantly lower than the 230,000 made in 2008.
Honda has offered a 90-day consultation period on the job cuts and said that it hopes to avoid compulsory redundancies.
"Sustained conditions of low demand in European markets make it necessary to realign Honda's business structure," the company said in a statement.