Honda agrees to sell their only UK car plant to Panattoni

Honda has agreed to sell its only car plant in the UK at Swindon in southern England to logistics giant Panattoni, a company spokesman said on Saturday, as the new owner reportedly prepares to make a large investment at the site.

The Japanese automaker, which builds about a tenth of the 1.5 million car output in Britain, made the decision two years after it told about its intention in 2019 to stop production at its Swindon plant. The plant closure is expected to result in 3,500 job losses.

Honda, which has been having a hard time in Europe, has said the closure of the plant was unrelated to Britain’s departure from the European Union but it required to focus activities in regions where it expects to sell most cars.

Panattoni said it was making a 700 million pounds ($965 million) investment in its logistics-related development, with the intention of creating new jobs, once Honda finishes decommissioning of the plant that constructs its Civic hatchbacks, likely next spring.

The latest move comes after the decisions by electronics firms Sony and Panasonic to move their headquarters to the EU from the UK.