Honda cutting production in Swindon again – 500 jobs at risk

Honda is cutting another 500 jobs in Swindon It’s only a year since Honda announced 800 job cuts at Swindon (which eventually was 550) and now they’re about to cut a further 500 as weak demand – particularly in Europe – sees the Swindon plant producing just half the cars it could. The plan is to cut shifts from 3 to 2 a day, which will result in the loss of 340 permanent jobs and 160 temporary ones, and production will be centred on just one production line to increase efficiency and flexibility. The Swindon Plant – which builds the Civic, Civic Tourer, CR-V and Jazz (and the Civic Type-R from next year) – has been hard hit by the slump in European sales in the last five years and, despite still strong UK sales, production levels of 120,000 cars a year – just half of the Swindon capacity – are not enough to sustain the current staffing levels.

Warren Golf & Country Club Classic & Supercar event this weekend

There are plenty of supercar and classic car shows up and down the UK to keep petrolheads (and their families) fed with a regular dose of adrenalin and high-octane thrills, but it’s always nice to report on a new one, especially a new one that offers the promise of something worth making the effort for. The Warren Golf & Country Club, which nestles on the Warren Estate in Woodham Mortimer – far from the white stilettos and tangoed complexions of the more chavvy parts of Essex – has its first ever classic and supercar show event this Saturday (4th May 2013) and they’ve made a pretty good fist of putting an appealing array of goodies together. Max Chilton, a relatively new entrant in the F1 world, will be there together with his Marussia F1 car, as will be the entire Le Mans Jaguar XJR Team thanks to local specialists JD Classics.

Detroit motor show 2010 video review

Watch our brief video guide to the 2010 North American International Auto Show, aka the Detroit motor show. While writing our show reports from the NAIAS, we shot some quickfire video footage of the key cars, grabbed an interview or two and arranged a debrief with Gavin Green, Tim Pollard and Jonny Smith to reflect on their personal interpretations of the show. It's not professionally shot, but we hope it gives you a flavour of the 2010 Detroit auto show.