NOT BREXIT RELATED? NOT REALISTIC
Honda themselves deny that the closure is Brexit related. In their response to my question to the right, you can see that they maintain that it's to do with optimizing production of electric cars.
And Jens Ladefoged, professor of political science at Copenhagen University agrees. In a no-deal scenario, Great Britain would lose access to the single market, and rely on World Trade Organization (WTO) terms when importing and exporting.
"That means you can slap an extra five to ten percent in tariffs on top of all imports," he said.
Q: Why does the production have to move? Ian Howells (Vice President of Honda Europe) has stated that the closure is not a Brexit related issue, despite several experts claiming otherwise. Is it still the official position Honda Europe?
A (Rory Avery, Communications Specialist at Honda UK): No. This decision was not influenced by Britain’s plans to leave the EU.
We are announcing this now because we need to make decisions about production of the new Civic model (post 2021). To achieve its electrification strategy, Honda is adjusting its global manufacturing network.
Resources, capabilities and production systems for electrified vehicles will be focused in regions where Honda expects to have high volume of customer demand (China, US, Japan.)