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Honda Makes Swindon Global Hub For Civic Cars

Honda is to invest £200m in its facilities at Swindon to make it a global hub for the next generation of Civic cars.

The company said the production plant will make the five-door model for UK, Europe and "key global markets".

The carmaker added that since 1985 it has invested £2.2bn in engine and car manufacturing facilities at the site.

Engines were first produced at the Swindon plant in 1989 and cars started to roll off the line in 1992.

The facility currently has an annual production capacity of 250,000 vehicles a year.

Although the Swindon facility will produce the Civic model that goes on sale later this year, it will lose the ability to produce the CR-V compact crossover - which will be made in Ontario, Canada.

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Honda UK director Jason Smith said: "As a global production facility for the Civic five-door model we look forward to making the most of the opportunity to export this model not only to our European customers, but also to key global markets."

UK trade body the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders said that including the Honda pledge, more than £1bn of investments have been promised by carmakers in the last week.

But is has been a rocky road for Honda at Swindon recently.

Last year more than 300 jobs were under threat as the manufacturer cut production.

It wanted to reduce workflow from three daily shifts to two, and blamed poor sales growth outside the UK - particularly in Europe.

At the time the Unite union pledged to fight any job losses imposed by the firm.

The new facility at Swindon is expected to employ state-of-the-art technology to improve economies of scale.

Mr Smith added that Honda was "demonstrating its long-term commitment to manufacturing in the UK and Europe".