TOKYO (Reuters) – Honda has agreed to sell its only British car plant in Swindon, southern England, to logistics giant Panattoni, a company spokesman said on Saturday as the new owner plans to make a big investment in the extensive site.
The Japanese carmaker, which builds about a tenth of the 1.5 million vehicles produced in Britain, made the decision two years after announcing its intention in 2019 to stop production at the Swindon plant. . The nearest plant is expected to lead to 3,500 job losses.
Honda, which has been struggling in Europe, said the closure of the plant was not related to Britain’s exit from the European Union, but needed to focus activities on the regions where it expects to sell the most vehicles.
Panattoni said it would make an investment of £ 700 million ($ 965 million) in its logistics-related development, with the aim of creating new jobs once Honda completes the closure of the plant it is building. his Civic hatchbacks, probably next spring, according to the Financial Times earlier.
The latest move followed the decisions of electronics companies Sony and Panasonic to move their headquarters to the EU from Britain, while Hitachi shelved a nuclear power project in Britain amid Brexit.
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Reports by Eimi Yamamitsu and Tetsushi Kajimoto; edition by Shri Navaratnam