Honda Motor has extended the temporary shutdown of its UK car assembly plant in Swindon.
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“The global financial situation has continued to affect consumer confidence in the car market,” Honda of the UK Manufacturing (HUM) said in a statement on Friday.
Workers were told there would be an extra 35 non production days in April and May and output would now restart in June. The plant had earlier extended a lengthened Christmas holiday shutdown into February and March.
But workers’ jobs are safe for now.
“There are no plans for redundancies,” HUM said.
Plant director David Hodgetts added: “The European car market is not showing any signs of recovery yet and therefore, we have to reduce our production output further to better match the current level of market demand.
“All other car manufacturers are facing a similar situation and we will continue to take prompt and flexible countermeasures to ensure that we can meet these challenges with this severe market situation.”
The plant employs 4,200 people and exports the Civic to 60 countries worldwide. It also makes the CR-V compact SUV for the UK and export.
Honda announced earlier on Friday it would axe 3,100 remaining temporary workers in Japan and cut domestic production by a further 56,000 vehicles.
Other automakers have been announcing similar cuts this week as the global car market shows no signs of early recovery.
