LONDON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Japanese auto firm Honda announced on Tuesday it planned to close its British factory in 2021, a move which was linked to Brexit by some politicians, unions and academics but denied by Honda.
CLOSURE PLAN ANNOUNCED
Honda's factory in the southwest of England town of Swindon currently employs 3,500 workers, but they will lose their jobs at the factory in 2021 under plans announced by Honda.
In a statement on Tuesday morning, Honda said "unprecedented changes in the global automotive industry" and the "significant challenges of electrification" were behind its decision to close the factory.
Katsushi Inoue, Honda's chief officer for European Regional Operations, said: "In light of the unprecedented changes that are affecting our industry, it is vital that we accelerate our electrification strategy and restructure our global operations."
The Swindon factory currently makes 150,000 cars each year and is the only Honda factory in the European Union(EU).
About 90 percent of the autos made in Swindon are for export and the total accounts for 10 percent of British car production.
Local media, the Financial Times, reported Honda's chief executive Takahiro Hachigo as saying at a press conference Tuesday in Tokyo that "Brexit was not taken into account" in the decision to close the Swindon factory.
Hachigo was reported as adding that Honda was not pulling out of Europe and that it would retain its European headquarters in Britain.
MANY BLAME BREXIT
The closure announcement was met with sadness and anger by many.
One of the largest British unions Unite, blamed Brexit uncertainty for Honda's decision to close the factory.
Unite's automotive sector national officer Des Quinn told Xinhua: "While Brexit is not mentioned by the company as a reason for the announcement, we believe that the uncertainty that the government has created by its inept and rigid handling of Brexit negotiations lurks in the background."
"If the government had delivered a strong and stable Brexit that protected the economy and jobs, we may well have been in a very different position today."
Professor David Bailey, economics professor at Aston Business School and an expert on the auto industry, was quoted by media as saying that there was a "collision" between Brexit uncertainty and the changing nature of the auto industry, as it moves towards electric autos and away from fuel driven cars.
Bailey told The Guardian newspaper: "Honda came to the UK because it offered a launchpad into the single market. There's a lot of bewilderment in Japan about Brexit because what we offered them has been taken away."
Honda's closure decision comes just a few weeks after the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement came into force on February 1, which will see goods pass between the two areas across a tariff free boundary.
If Britain goes ahead with Brexit, it could well see tariffs imposed on autos exported from Britain to the EU, putting the British factories of overseas car manufacturers at a disadvantage.
"Britain is not upholding its side of the deal so they don't need to either. There may have been more of a chance of the UK being a centre of electric vehicle production if Britain stayed in the single market and if it had a more supportive industrial strategy," Bailey said.
British Business Secretary Greg Clark described it as a "bitter blow" to the workers at the factory, to the supply chain and to the town of Swindon, where Honda has had a factory for 34 years.
"It is a blow to the whole British economy," Clark told MPs in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon.
Clark said that Honda was "accelerating its move to electric propulsion and choosing to consolidate investment in their facilities in Japan."
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition party Labor, said the closure plan was a "huge blow" to workers and the whole community.
Corbyn blamed Brexit uncertainty for Honda's closure plan: "The government's disastrous handling of Brexit is letting people down across the country."
Honda's closure decision follows the announcement earlier this month by fellow Japanese auto firm Nissan to ditch its plans to build a new model auto, the X-Trail SUV, at its plant in the northern industrial town of Sunderland.
