Plenty of new and exotic machinery is on display at Geneva this year but there are few companies for which this show is so important than Honda.
After a number of years of falling sales in Europe, held back by a product slow down in the wake of the global financial crisis, the sleeping giant is waking up. Geneva is the showcase for something of a product blitz by recent Honda standards, led by the European unveil of the new Civic Type R, HRV, Jazz, a fuel cell concept, and of, course, the company’s own piece of exotica, the new NSX wearing a Honda badge rather than Acura as seen at the Detroit show in January.
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Add the new Formula One team into the mix and this is an exciting year for the Japanese brand. F1 driver Jenson Button was on hand at a glitzy pre-show event where the performance models were unveiled. “The race car is shaping up nicely,” he said. “Testing has given us time to stretch our legs and I believe we have a great partnership between Honda and McLaren.”
Of the road cars, the Jazz and HRV will be important players although the new Jazz, due for launch in late summer, will no longer be built in Europe with production moving from Honda’s UK plant at Swindon, back to Japan.
No news yet on what will take its place. The UK factory is currently under utilised, rolling out 125,000 vehicles last year, less than half capacity. Phil Crossman, Honda UK managing director is confident, however, that production will remain at current levels with CRV and Civic – the new Type R will be built there.
He said: “There are no plans at the moment to add further models, but that can change. What I can say is there is no possibility of closing down the Swindon plant, Honda is committed to it for the long term.”
The factory is capable of producing more than 300,000 cars a year although only Plant 1 is now operating on the site with Plant 2 mothballed. Honda may need additional capacity at some point for the new HRV which is being built in Mexico.
