Author Topic: Honda Swindon machinery sale  (Read 5485 times)

jazzaro

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #15 on: March 25, 2021, 01:19:26 PM »
I wonder if, in Honda’s case, the issues were beyond Brexit concerns.
Brexit surely has been another parameter pushing for closure, but it was not alone.

Derkie54

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #16 on: March 25, 2021, 03:56:03 PM »
Honda at Swindon had been shrinking for years, there are two self contained plants with their own production lines, paint shops & canteens etc etc ( plant 1 and plant 2 ).
After the 2008 financial crash changing cars was the last thing on a lot of peoples minds so volumes dropped.
By about 2014/15 plant 2 was closed and mothballed as plant 1 could meet the demand and the plant 1 production lines could be changed over fairly quickly to make any model.
The CRV and Jazz were dropped as new models were introduced leaving Honda at Swindon with just the Civic.
So although Brexit may have been a factor in the final closure it must have been on the cards for a while.

« Last Edit: March 25, 2021, 04:01:38 PM by Derkie54 »
It will be alright in the end, if it's not alright then it's not the end !

madasafish

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #17 on: March 25, 2021, 04:49:17 PM »
Honda were a deeply introverted company. NIH - Not Invented Her - described their philosophy.

An unwillingness to adopt the ideas of others, coupled with poor financial returns post the 2008 crash, meant they had less to invest.

Something had to give - and it was Europe...

culzean

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #18 on: March 25, 2021, 06:02:11 PM »
Honda were a deeply introverted company. NIH - Not Invented Her - described their philosophy.

An unwillingness to adopt the ideas of others, coupled with poor financial returns post the 2008 crash, meant they had less to invest.

Something had to give - and it was Europe...

Honda may have been introverted, but have pretty much been at the forefront of auto engineering, so why would they need the ideas of others ?  The Americans in particular took to Honda in a big way, practical, efficient sporty cars with bulletproof reliability, also very popular throughout Asia. 

Honda were the first major car maker to refine electrical power steering system to full electronic control  - in 1990 it was fitted to NSX.  Suzuki used an NSK EPS system in 1988 but it was very crude and unreliable.

Honda are still the 5th largest car maker in the world, and have always gone it alone, now they have a tie up with GM which could yield many savings in R&D costs in increasingly hi tech cars.

To look at Honda only in Europe is to miss the bigger picture, their market share in Europe has always been around 2% or less.  Honda was very slow to adopt diesels because they realised that as far as emissions was concerned diesels would never be anywhere near clean enough. This basically closed off the company car market in Europe to them, where Diesel was supported by governments and benefits in kind tax relief was higher on diesels - and that has been proved by Dieselgate be a major policy blunder ( but diesels were pushed by European makers, and never popular in USA except in tractors and lorries )  ,  and Honda were correct.

https://www.carlogos.org/reviews/largest-car-companies.html

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/08/gmhm-s08.html
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

sparky Paul

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #19 on: March 25, 2021, 06:42:02 PM »
Diesel was supported by governments and benefits in kind tax relief was higher on diesels - and that has been proved by Dieselgate be a major policy blunder ( but diesels were pushed by European makers, and never popular in USA except in tractors and lorries )  ,  and Honda were correct.

Diesel was pursued as a result of the obsession with CO₂ reduction at the time, I don't see how 'dieselgate' proves it was a policy blunder. Dieselgate was a ploy by the manufacturers to fraudulently misrepresent emissions and fuel economy figures, nothing to do with any failure of governmental policy.

It's not really surprising that diesel never gained traction in the US, where gasoline has averaged 55 cents a litre over the last 20 years.

culzean

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #20 on: March 26, 2021, 09:51:02 AM »
Diesel was supported by governments and benefits in kind tax relief was higher on diesels - and that has been proved by Dieselgate be a major policy blunder ( but diesels were pushed by European makers, and never popular in USA except in tractors and lorries )  ,  and Honda were correct.

Diesel was pursued as a result of the obsession with CO₂ reduction at the time, I don't see how 'dieselgate' proves it was a policy blunder. Dieselgate was a ploy by the manufacturers to fraudulently misrepresent emissions and fuel economy figures, nothing to do with any failure of governmental policy.

It's not really surprising that diesel never gained traction in the US, where gasoline has averaged 55 cents a litre over the last 20 years.

The Japanese openly said in 2005 that 'emissions wise, diesel technology is a dead end', this really upset the Europeans who threatened to ban Japs from European discussions in future. The failure of government policy WAS concentrating on Co2 and ignoring everything else diesels spew out.  I have read many articles that say diesel particulates may be responsible for melting icecaps, by blackening the ice and snow and absorbing sunlight. The Americans  knew that diesels were dirty as well, and there was no reason that diesel could not be as cheap as gasoline ( except that an average barrel of oil yields twice as much gasoline as diesel ).
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

Westy36

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #21 on: March 26, 2021, 10:38:43 AM »
Interesting link posted by Culzean.

https://www.carlogos.org/reviews/largest-car-companies.html

Several manufactures in the top 20 I'd never heard of! Faw Group, BAIC Group, GAC Group and Dongfeng. They produce a lot of vehicles. It must only be a matter of time, MG and SAIC aside, until these companies start appearing in Europe.

sparky Paul

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #22 on: March 26, 2021, 11:16:11 AM »
The failure of government policy WAS concentrating on Co2 and ignoring everything else diesels spew out.

I'm pretty sure that's what I just said. It may well have been a major policy blunder, but I still can't see how 'dieselgate' proved that.

there was no reason that diesel could not be as cheap as gasoline ( except that an average barrel of oil yields twice as much gasoline as diesel ).

I wasn't comparing the relative prices of petrol & diesel, but comparing it with the high cost of fuels over here - I don't think we would have been driving diesels in the pursuit of mpg, if petrol had averaged 35p a litre over the last 20 years.

Kremmen

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #23 on: March 26, 2021, 11:29:27 AM »
Talking of fuel prices, I see that stuck container ship has caused a hike in fuel prices.

£1.20 a litre this morning.  I'm sure it was under £1.10 when I last topped up.
Let's be careful out there !

sparky Paul

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #24 on: March 26, 2021, 11:55:22 AM »
Petrol has been £1.20 a litre for a while here, I was a bit shocked when I went a few weeks ago.

I think we still have the increases due to the Suez bung up to come.

Kremmen

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #25 on: March 26, 2021, 12:02:52 PM »
Normally I only do ~60 miles a week in 2 x 30 mile journeys so I don't top up that often. Usually wait till I've under half a tank.

Probably last visited in Jan.
Let's be careful out there !

sparky Paul

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #26 on: March 26, 2021, 12:13:13 PM »
Normally I only do ~60 miles a week in 2 x 30 mile journeys so I don't top up that often. Usually wait till I've under half a tank.

Probably last visited in Jan.

I think many of us are in the same boat recently, I think I've only filled up 3 times in the last 12 months!

Jocko

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #27 on: March 26, 2021, 12:18:24 PM »
I fill up more than that a month. Struggling to cope with the petrol just now. Up to £1.20.7 here today.

Kremmen

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #28 on: March 26, 2021, 12:50:29 PM »
Since I retired my mileage has dropped from 12k a year to under 3k. It was under £1k till the daughter moved out.

I suppose I could consider EV but for the annual holidays. No charge points at the guest house we use.

I think Hybrid for the next 8 years then see.
Let's be careful out there !

sparky Paul

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Re: Honda Swindon machinery sale
« Reply #29 on: March 26, 2021, 12:53:22 PM »
I fill up more than that a month. Struggling to cope with the petrol just now. Up to £1.20.7 here today.

Just checked locally, prices 121.7p to 125.9p in town. Just over the border in Lincs, cheapest is 124.9 at Tesco/Morrisons.

Jazz is getting the mileage, now the kids are back at school.

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