After 5 Hondas (4 x Swindon) in the last 25 years it looks like
the next car will be a Toyota Corolla from their Derby factory.
It won't be anything from the EU.
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>> After 5 Hondas (4 x Swindon) in the last 25 years it looks like
>> the next car will be a Toyota Corolla from their Derby factory.
>>
>> It won't be anything from the EU.
>>
You reckon that the Toyota factory will be there for long ppst Brexit?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45676633
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>> You reckon that the Toyota factory will be there for long ppst Brexit?
>>
>> www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45676633
Tick, third step of my Brexit prediction.
Now who wants to take up my bet on Airbus in Filton?
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>>After 5 Hondas (4 x Swindon) in the last 25 years it looks like
the next car will be a Toyota Corolla from their Derby factory.
>>It won't be anything from the EU.
Could always buy a Turkish built Toyota.
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EU & Japan trade deal means cars from Japan can now be imported to EU without tariffs.
This removes any incentives for Japanese makers to manufacture cars in EU.
Honda only has one manufacturing plant in EU which is in UK. Their marketshare is falling and main market in USA, China, India etc. So possibly make sense for them to manufacture in Japan.
Edit:
I wonder whether EU would have made such a deal with Japan if would have resulted car plants being closed in Germany instead of UK.
Last edited by: movilogo on Mon 18 Feb 19 at 15:58
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>> EU & Japan trade deal means cars from Japan can now be imported to EU
>> without tariffs.
>>
>> This removes any incentives for Japanese makers to manufacture cars in EU.
>>
>> Honda only has one manufacturing plant in EU which is in UK. Their marketshare is
>> falling and main market in USA, China, India etc. So possibly make sense for them
>> to manufacture in Japan.
>>
Agreed. Even, as a remainer, I can't reasonably pin this on Brexit.
The writing was on the wall for Swindon as soon as the FTA was signed between the EU and Japan. Which incidentally was supported by the UK. Turkeys voting for Christmas....
Honda only came to the UK in the first place (originally via the Rover alliance) to sidestep EU tariffs and other import restrictions. It has no reason to stay here now they've gone away.
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>> Could always buy a Turkish built Toyota.
The Delight model?
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Tick, second step of my Brexit prediction.
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Hmm, how did Swindon vote in 2016?
Ahhh... tinyurl.com/yymd2mne
That deserves a youtu.be/ZO2mTDWOmmI
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"Tick, second step of my Brexit prediction."
I've ticked my Brexit prediction box practically every day since the referendum.
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Anyone fancy buying a new Swindon built Honda, assembled by disaffected workers?
As Swindon's within commuting distance of Cowley, I wonder how many of them found their way to Honda. I'm sure we all remember the quality of BMC/BL/ARG products.
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So hoe does it all end then. Perhaps you can post the conclusion as many of us and indeed the Government wiould like to know how it all ends up.
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We've had several Hondas and still have two Jazz in the family.
They're just a disaster in the UK, and it looks similar across Europe too. Even the old people don't like the current Jazz and they won't upgrade to HR-V because it's made in Mexico and has quickly gained a reputation for problems - a few that did make the switch have suffered breakdowns, completely destroying their faith in Honda.
Honda UK also canned a lot of the long-standing dealers and people generally don't like the replacements - the one in our area is awful, they make our VW dealer seem pleasant. The warm and fuzzy customer service of the old dealers (there were two near us, both canned) has gone and Honda UK has become as unco-operative as every other manufacturer, so there's no benefit in choosing Honda.
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>> They're just a disaster in the UK, and it looks similar across Europe too. Even
>> the old people don't like the current Jazz and they won't upgrade to HR-V because
>> it's made in Mexico and has quickly gained a reputation for problems - a few
>> that did make the switch have suffered breakdowns, completely destroying their faith in Honda.
I was about to say the same thing.
For years, Hondas were conservatively styled, but beautifully engineered and built cars with huge appeal for people who didn't automatically buy German.
It's hard to know in 2019 what they are aiming for. The Jazz has alienated its traditional customer base, the Civic is so controversially styled that you'd need to either like it, or be very thick skinned to buy one, and apart from the Civic Type R, and the hybrid NSX, they seem to have completely given up on doing anything for the enthusiast. A sad state of affairs from the company that gave us the S2000, Prelude, CRX, NSX, and the hugely respected back catalogue of Type-R and VTEC sporting models.
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>> It's hard to know in 2019 what they are aiming for. The Jazz has alienated
>> its traditional customer base, the Civic is so controversially styled that you'd need to either
>> like it, or be very thick skinned to buy one, and apart from the Civic
>> Type R, and the hybrid NSX, they seem to have completely given up on doing
>> anything for the enthusiast. A sad state of affairs from the company that gave us
>> the S2000, Prelude, CRX, NSX, and the hugely respected back catalogue of Type-R and VTEC
>> sporting models.
The Accord Estate would do me quite nicely. But that went yonks ago. Honda never made a great deal of money out of the UK market, they might as well just abandon it completely.
And they seem to have made a hash of developing, making and marketing hybrid vehicles, despite an early start.
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I sadly agree.
I had 2 of the CRV Mk2's, which were robust and practical. Our 2002 Civic 1.6 automatic wasn't exciting but it was outstandingly practical and reliable (and is still on the road with the friend I sold it to). Nothing went wrong in 12 years.
Both CRVs and the Civic were Swindon-built. British built cars don't have to be badly put together. It's all in the management and QC, which starts with the design engineering of course. I'm surprised to hear the HRVs are having reliability problems - there is no obvious reason why being assembled in Mexico should cause that.
From a marketing perspective they appear to have made the classic re-positioning error. Perhaps afraid that so much of their customer base had a high propensity for dying off, they zizzed up the styling and added bling to try and broaden their market. In doing so they both failed to attract the younger customers they wanted in sufficient numbers and alienated too many of the comfortably-off older customers who loved their products.
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>> that so much of their customer base had a high propensity for dying off, they
>> zizzed up the styling and added bling to try and broaden their market. In doing
>> so they both failed to attract the younger customers they wanted in sufficient numbers and
>> alienated too many of the comfortably-off older customers who loved their products.
All that is purely from a UK market perspective, Hondas are not bought by the elderly, 28 mph hat wearing brigade in the rest of the world. The old fogey market was purely a UK thing.
So actually the UK is out of step with the honda customer base, and as a very small market in the global scheme of things, it has effectively been dropped.
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>> All that is purely from a UK market perspective, Hondas are not bought by the
>> elderly, 28 mph hat wearing brigade in the rest of the world. The old fogey
>> market was purely a UK thing.
>>
>> So actually the UK is out of step with the honda customer base, and as
>> a very small market in the global scheme of things, it has effectively been dropped.
Fair comment, although I'm not sure the UK marketers expected the response they got or pitched their marketing correctly.
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>> All that is purely from a UK market perspective, Hondas are not bought by the
>> elderly, 28 mph hat wearing brigade in the rest of the world. The old fogey
>> market was purely a UK thing.
>>
I don't know how Hondas are perceived elsewhere in Europe but their sales in the rest of Europe have plummeted same as they have in the UK.
In the USA Honda sells well, but they're seen as cheap cars there, on a level with with the Koreans.
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>>In the USA Honda sells well, but they're seen as cheap cars there, on a level with with the Koreans.
I thought Honda were seen as superior quality to indigenous US brands with prices much the same.
Been over 20 years since Hondas were cheaper than Fords.
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And went upmarket with dealers/glass palaces leaving Skoda to move in on their original turf
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>> And went upmarket with dealers/glass palaces leaving Skoda to move in on their original turf
Skoda are now moving out of that turf. Who is moving in?
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I'm seeing people I know buying Korean who wouldn't have touched them a few years ago.
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>> I'm seeing people I know buying Korean who wouldn't have touched them a few years
>> ago.
to be fair its no longer the product it was a few years ago.
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>> to be fair its no longer the product it was a few years ago.
It certainly isn't. If I decide to change the M140i in a couple of years, a Hyundai i30 N Performance would be near top of my candidate list. One of the most enjoyable cars I've driven in years.
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"Skoda are now moving out of that turf. Who is moving in?"
In 10(?) years time, I can see the only N European car manufacturer being Morgan. With a major shift from diesel, VAG had pinned a lot of hope on the new 1.5 TSI Evo engine ....... which has turned out to be a dud. I know because I've got one in the Karoq.
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Honda set to close Swindon car plant - Falkirk Bairn
