There was some good news for UK Auto Manufacturing Plc this week as Honda announced that its under-used European car plant in Swindon would become the global production hub for the next generation Civic five door hatchback.
In a general rearrangement of sourcing, the automaker also said Alliston, in Ontario, Canada, already named global lead plant for the Civic, would also take over European CR-V supply, currently a Swindon responsibility, and we already knew the next generation Jazz, which we will finally get later this year, will come again from Japan, rather than Swindon which has now built out the last of the 2014s.
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Making Swindon Civic-centric is part of a plan, which we reported in March, to use the UK plant more efficiently. Originally opened as a pre delivery centre to prepare Rover-built Hondas for sale, the plant started building cars and engines in the early 1990s but was, some years ago, furloughed for several months following the credit crisis and currently only operates at about half of its 250,000-unit capacity with a 100,000-unit line mothballed.
The latest plan will again see UK Civic hatchbacks exported to North America and, hopefully, more volume to other markets such as Japan and Australia which have taken some sporty versions like the Si and Type R in the past. Planned US imports of the 2016 hatchback were confirmed at the New York show.
Honda’s Swindon announcement capped a great week for UK automakers after three major players announced UK investments worth more than GBP1bn in six days. Honda, Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover and Geely’s London Taxi Company each made announcements of funding to build new vehicle models, totalling GBP1.05bn.
The latest announcements, which follow GBP7bn committed in 2013 and 2014, were yet more evidence of the continuing renaissance in UK car production, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. In 2014, about 1.5m cars were produced in the UK – an increase of 50% since 2009, and the sector’s best performance since 2007.
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By GlobalDataNext American to tell me on Facebook or one of the classic car forums I follow that the ‘UK car industry is dead’ gets both barrels. We’re way past the era of British Leyland industrial relations and Lucas ‘prince of darkness’ electrics, guys.
I was intrigued to see the hatchback return to the NAFTA Civic range as sedans and coupes tend to dominate in their equivalent of our C-segment. Rivals will include Ford’s Focus and, as Toyota announced this week, the Corolla/Auris hatchback reworked as a new Scion. Toyota also revealed the rebadged, Mexican made Mazda 2 it will sell as Scion’s first sedan, called the iA. And, still in New York, my favourite SUV, the Lexus RX, has had a full redesign.
There was good news for a French PSA engine plant this week, too – a new module is going in at Tremery as demand for the (excellent) little I3 motors that go into a lot of Citroen and Peugeot models these days remains “buoyant”.
In Canada, the future of GM’s Oshawa complex, in contrast, is looking a little cloudy. One vehicle plant is already doomed and there’s no future product allocated to the other which is already sharing Chevy Impala output with one south of the border. A report out this week tallied up the total job losses if the axe is wielded in a few years.
It’s the long awaited Easter break so were off for the usual four days with the unpredictable English weather, railways closed for repairs and traffic chaos.
And chocolate.
Have a nice weekend.
Graeme Roberts, Deputy Editor, just-auto.com
