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Honda cuts 800 jobs at Swindon Plant

Honda is cutting 800 jobs at its Swindon Plant as demand for cars across Europe weakens and moving to a single shift system. We’ve not had a huge amount of bad news in the UK car industry for some time, but Honda’s decision to cut 800 jobs at its Swindon Plant is a tough pill to swallow for the workforce. Honda blames ‘Sustained conditions of low demand’ in Europe for the swathing cuts in its workforce in the, but believes the move is necessary to protect the long-term future of Swindon.

Scuola Politecnica di Design announces Chris Bangle workshop

Italy’s Scuola Politecnica di Design has announced a seven-day workshop with former BMW Group design boss Chris Bangle at its campus in Milan. Themed ‘Future Personal Emotional Mobility’ and scheduled to run from 18 to 24 September 2009, the workshop invites design degree graduates and experienced car designers to take part in a project to create a new breed of sustainable shared transportation for the year 2050. Based on the concept that the mass migration of people from the countryside to cities will in the future create even more social, economic and ecological differences between population zones, this event will see attendees work closely with Bangle towards designing systems that engage on an emotional as well as an economic level, satisfying the personal transportation needs – and desires – of a disparate global population while minimising impact on the environment.

Swedish court rejects Saab creditor-protection plea; Saab will appeal

A Swedish court on Thursday rejected an application by ailing carmaker Saab for protection from creditors to give it breathing space to solve a cash crisis and get funds from Chinese investors. The Vanersborg district court in western Sweden said in a statement on its Web site that there was no reason to believe a new creditor protection process, known as a reconstruction, would work. Saab said in a statement that it is disappointed with the ruling and will appeal the decision.