Automotive News understands that “Honda is reworking its global production footprint for three reasons.” It all starts with soaking up excess capacity. The second reason is electrification, which implies the retooling of the Japanese automaker’s plants. As for the third motivation, that’d be to refocus on the markets where Honda sells the most vehicles.
Honda sold 5.24 million vehicles in 2018, 3 percent fewer than the automaker’s production capacity of 5.4 million cars. By closing a couple of plants and switching production from one place to another would translate to 5.1 million.
Even though Hachigo told Automotive News that Brexit doesn’t have anything to do with Swindon, we doubt he’s telling the truth. If the case of Hard Brexit, the United Kingdom would leave the single market and customs union. “No Deal” would be even worse, translating to a sudden split from the European Union without a transition period.
Speaking of the Old Continent, Japan and Europe signed a free-trade accord only recently. A key part of the agreement “addresses specific sensitivities in the EU, for instance in the automotive sector, with transition periods of up to seven years before customs duties are eliminated.” Given this consensus, it isn’t hard to understand Honda’s decision to move production out of the United Kingdom.
Production of the Civic Sedan for North America takes place in Canada and Indiana while the 1.5- and 2.0-liter turbocharged engine options are made in Ohio. The CVTs are sourced from Ohio and Mexico, making it easy to understand Honda’s preference for North America.
The Civic Sedan is also manufactured in Turkey, but Honda announced that it's stopping production towards the end of 2021 too. As it happens, there’s not much demand for the three-box body style in this part of the world.
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