Honda has announced a major £267m investment in its car manufacturing plant in Swindon – which has led to 500 new jobs at the factory this year.Production of the firm’s new CR-V model starts today and marks the start of the huge multi-million pound programme. The cash is the single biggest investment by the firm in over a decade.
July is never a great month for car sales, but registrations did rise 9.3% to 144,000 units, according to figures from the trade body, SMMT.It now looks like the total UK car market will grow to 2.0 million units in 2012, but that is still well below its pre-recession peak of over 2.5 million. The problem for the car manufacturers is that Southern Europe is dropping like a stone, which means they are trying to divert sales to the UK. That is going to mean some very big discounts as manufacturers try and force cars down the throat of the UK market.
