Honda said today it plans to cut around 800 jobs at its South Marston plant near Swindon in south west England due to falling demand for its vehicles across Europe.
In a statement, the company said it would enter into formal consultation with staff over the cuts which will take place by the second quarter of 2013.
Honda Motor Europe's Executive Vice President Ken Keir said the automaker remained fully committed in the long term to its UK and European manufacturing operations, but said market conditions in the region ''require us to take difficult decisions.''
The plant, which produces the Civic, Jazz and CR-V models, employs 3,500 people. A spokeswoman for Honda in the UK told Automotive News Europe that the cuts will ''affect both office-based and production-based staff, but it is difficult [at the moment] to see where that split will be.''
It is the first time Honda has cut jobs in the UK since it began production there in 1992.
Honda said today it plans to cut around 800 jobs at its South Marston plant near Swindon in south west England due to falling demand for its vehicles across Europe.
In a statement, the company said it would enter into formal consultation with staff over the cuts which will take place by the second quarter of 2013.
Honda Motor Europe's Executive Vice President Ken Keir said the automaker remained fully committed in the long term to its UK and European manufacturing operations, but said market conditions in the region ''require us to take difficult decisions.''
The plant, which produces the Civic, Jazz and CR-V models, employs 3,500 people. A spokeswoman for Honda in the UK told Automotive News Europe that the cuts will ''affect both office-based and production-based staff, but it is difficult [at the moment] to see where that split will be.''
It is the first time Honda has cut jobs in the UK since it began production there in 1992.
According to Honda, a forecasted 166,000 cars were built at the plant in 2012, below the maximum capacity of 250,000 and the production peak in 2008, when the company produced 230,000 units.
The spokeswoman said Honda remained committed to building cars and engines in the UK with the Civic wagon and the Civic Type R models due to be manufactured in Swindon from 2014.
Europe losses
Mass-market carmakers in Europe are struggling with underused capacity in the region which is fuelling losses in Europe as demand for cars in major markets like France and Germany drops.
Late last year, Ford announced plans to cut 1,400 jobs at plants in southern England, while both Ford and Volvo are also planning to cut thousands of jobs in Belgium.
PSA/Peugeot-Citroen and Opel too both plan to cut their workforce and close plants in France and Germany.
According to data from the industry organization ACEA, Honda sales in EU and EFTA markets dropped 6.2 percent to 131,348 in the first 11 months of 2012. Overall, the markets dropped a combined 7.2 percent.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a message, I will verify them swiftly, Sorry to have to do this now as some twat keeps spamming my message system, unfortunately they are ignorant and spoil it for everyone else,
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.