Honda recruits 500 new employees

A total of 500 people turned up for their first day on a new production line at Honda’s Swindon car plant on 30 April. They will work a new shift making the Japanese car manufacturer’s Civic hatchback model. This signals a change of fortunes for Honda, which halted production on its second line in 2008. Now, 3,500 workers are employed at the Swindon site, and production is expected to almost double this year to 180,000.

Honda director Andy Piatek said: “I am delighted to welcome our new associates. We are proud of the skills of our workforce and the quality and reliability of the products we build.” The re-opening of the second production line also guarantees the future of Honda in Swindon; this was put in doubt by the economic collapse of 2008. In December, the European president of Honda announced the extra shift and confirmed that Swindon would be “at the heart” of its European output. Both the Civic hatchback and Honda’s new small car, the Jazz, are built at Swindon, as well as the new European CR-V, and the introduction of a new small diesel engine will start later this year.

New recruit Dan Smith said he was excited at starting a new job. “I am really looking forward to building the new Civic here. Over the past few months, we have been through all kinds of training, and now it’s finally time to get started,” he said.