Honda’s 3,000-strong workforce at its Swindon manufacturing plant have begun their final shift ahead of the site’s official closure at the end of this week.

The Japanese carmaker, which had previously bult the Accord, Jazz and CR-V models but had produced the Civic alone since 2018, will end vehicle production at the site 36 years after the first car rolled off its production line.  

Honda announced the closure of its Swindon plant in February 2019, stating that the move came as it attempts to accelerate its electrification strategy “in light of the unprecedented changes” affecting the automotive sector.

The OEM has denied that the move came as a result of Brexit.

In an interview with AM magazine nine months earlier, then Honda UK managing director, David Hodgetts who held the post of division manager of production planning and logistics between 1998 and 2005, claimed that the “future looks bright” for the plant, despite the prospect of Brexit.