Honda to shed 800 jobs at Swindon plant

Honda Motor Europe said it was announcing changes to its UK car manufacturing operation to ensure the long term stability of its future business. An announcement from the company said that the low European demand meant that Honda of the UK Manufacturing (HUM) would now enter into formal consultation with its workers to consider these changes and the proposal that it will reduce the workforce by 800 by Spring 2013. "Honda remains fully committed for the long-term to its UK and European manufacturing operations. However, these conditions of sustained low industry demand require us to take difficult decisions. We are setting the business constitution at the right level to ensure long term stability and security" said Ken Keir, executive vice president, Honda Motor Europe. Just a year ago, Honda announces the creation of 500 jobs at the Swindon plant in a bid to increase production from 100,000 to around 180,000 vehicles in 2012 with the new jobs taking the workforce at the Wiltshire factory to 3,500. At the time, Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the news as a "tremendous boost to the workforce, the car industry and UK manufacturing".