Japanese carmaker Honda has confirmed the closure of its manufacturing facility in Swindon, UK, by the year 2021. The move will incur a devastating loss of up to 3,500 jobs direct jobs, plus a huge impact on the local economy.
The plant currently manufactures about 150,000 Honda Civic models a year, most of them destined for the EU market. According to a spokesperson, the closure is ‘not Brexit-related’, but rather because of a shift in customer preference towards electric cars.
Nevertheless, other car manufacturers with operations in the UK have warned of dire consequences in case of a no-deal Brexit.