Japan's Honda to shut UK car plant, as Brexit looms
Honda will shut its UK plant with the loss of 3,500 jobs, the Japanese car maker announced Tuesday as the global auto industry faces "unprecedented changes" and the UK economy hits the skids on Brexit uncertainty.
The factory in Swindon, southwest England, which is Honda's only EU plant, will shut in 2021 "at the end of the current model's production lifecycle", the company said as carmakers worldwide increasingly invest in greener electric vehicles over diesel cars.
Business Secretary Greg Clark described Honda's decision as "devastating" and "a particularly bitter blow to the thousands of skilled and dedicated staff who work at the factory, their families and all of those employed in the supply chain".
Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to Honda's president to "express her disappointment at the decision," according to her Downing Street office. Katsushi Inoue, Honda's chief officer for European regional operations, said the decision had "not been taken lightly".
The firm blamed ...