Honda's Swindon plant reaches 2 million milestone
SWINDON, UNITED KINGDOM - Honda is celebratiing the 2 millionth car from its Swindon car production facility. The silver CR-V is scheduled for production on February 21, 2008, nearly 16 years after car manufacturing began in October 1992. The company announced substantial new investment, showing further commitment to its UK manufacturing operations. Building on its 22 year history, Honda of the UK Manufacturing Ltd. (HUM) is investing a further £80 million to upgrade and improve manufacturing processes. This includes:
Honda’s Swindon plant has shown a 25% increase in production volume over the last 18 months, with the company’s UK sales operation breaking through the 100,000 sales barrier for the first time in 2007. Currently just under 30% of Swindon production goes to the UK market. In 2007, HUM produced 237,783 cars.
David Hodgetts, Director at HUM, stated that “We are extremely proud of our workforce here in Swindon. This major milestone demonstrates the scale of our achievement since our operations began nearly 22 years ago. This fresh investment will enable Honda to improve overall competitiveness and increase the level of localised manufacture in Swindon. ”
Ken Keir, Senior Vice President of Honda Motor Europe, said “The fact that there are over two million happy customers driving Swindon built Honda cars is testament to our Associates’ commitment and is a great accomplishment.”