Earlier this month, Honda announced plans to close its Swindon, U.K., manufacturing unit that builds Civic hatchbacks for the U.S. At the time, Honda stated it could shift Civic hatchback manufacturing to North America, but now that move is official. As Automotive News reports, Honda will use its U.S. And Canadian flora to construct the next-technology Civic for the one’s markets.
“Given our efforts to optimize manufacturing allocation and manufacturing ability on an international scale, we have concluded that we will produce the Civic for North America in North America,” Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo advised Automotive News.
Considering Honda had to import nearly a third of the Civics it sold inside the U.S. Remaining year, that feels like a smart decision. But even though the timing of the declaration essentially coincides with the closing date for the U.K.’s “Brexit” from the European Union, Honda still insists that’s no longer the cause it’s shifting manufacturing out of that us of a. The decision is part of a plan to restructure Honda’s international production network to apply existing factories at their full ability, construct greater vehicles within the markets wherein they’re maximum popular, and accelerate its electrification efforts. By 2030, Honda believes hybrid and fully electric cars can make up a full -thirds of total income.
“We will create electrification technology at our Yorii plant and will introduce such technology horizontally within the U.S., Japan, and China, wherein we will count on sales volume,” Hachigo stated. “Then we can utilize that technology on an international basis.”
