Honda to halt production - 16th Jan 2009 2:57pm
Honda is to halt car production at its Swindon factory in April and May because of the economic downturn.
The Japanese firm had already decided to stop production at its Swindon site in February and March, but that will now be extended for a further two months.
The firm said there were no plans for redundancies among its 4,200 workforce at the site.
Honda UK Manufacturing director David Hodgetts said: "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.
"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."
The Japanese firm had already decided to stop production at its Swindon site in February and March, but that will now be extended for a further two months.
The firm said there were no plans for redundancies among its 4,200 workforce at the site.
Honda UK Manufacturing director David Hodgetts said: "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.
"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."
