Swindon plant hit by Honda cuts

Friday 16th January 2009, 12:42PM GMT.

Swindon plant hit by Honda cuts Honda’s car manufacturing plant in Swindon is to shut down for 35 working days in April and May, it has been announced.

The move extends the current shutdown for February and March announced last November.

A statement from Honda UK Manufacturing (HUM) blamed the “global financial situation” for affecting consumer confidence in the car market.

“The European car market is not showing any signs of recovery yet and therefore, we have to reduce our production output further to better match the current level of market demand,” HUM director David Hodgetts said.

“All other car manufacturers are facing a similar situation and we will continue to take prompt and flexible countermeasures to ensure that we can meet these challenges with this severe market situation.

“We intend to utilise the period of non production days to further strengthen our competitiveness to take advantage of future market improvements.”

It follows the Japanese car-maker’s announcement earlier today that it will slash production elsewhere around the world.

The car manufacturing sector has been badly hit by the global economic downturn and Honda is no exception, withdrawing its team from formula one last month.