We’ll be back and ready for action (From This Is Wiltshire)

We’ll be back and ready for action

8:20am Saturday 31st January 2009 in

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HONDA says it will be back producing cars on June 1, insisting the company has a future in Swindon.

As thousands of workers completed their final shifts before the four-month shutdown yesterday, the car giant was quick to reassure them that they will have jobs to go back to.

“Make no mistake – come Monday, June 1 we shall be back and ready for action,” said Paul Ormond, general manager of PR and corporate affairs.

“This might be an extremely difficult time for Honda and the rest of the country but we shall work through it and despite what some people might say Honda has a future in Swindon producing cars.

“In fact the future of Honda is assured. We have just launched a new hybrid car and later this year, our most popular model, the Jazz, will be built at Swindon giving us three major models for the town.”

Mr Ormond said it had been a difficult time for the 3,700 people working at the plant who he said had been influenced by bad news and rumour upon rumour since the credit crunch began.

“It is going to be tough for the next few months but we shall be doing the best we can to look after the associates,” Mr Ormond said.

Dave Hodgetts, senior director of planning and business administration at Honda UK, said the company was doing all it could to protect jobs.

Mr Hodgetts, who has been with the company for 18 years and will remain at work for the next four months, said: “We will be trying to protect their jobs – that’s our priority for the whole period.

“After the four-month break, the plan is for all the staff to come back and their jobs will be secure.

“No one could forecast the impact of the recession on the industry. We’ve had to take this severe action.”

Honda said earlier this week that it would decline the Government’s offer of £1.3bn in financial help for the UK’s car industry Mr Ormond, said: “We welcome the UK Government’s support and we hope that it will help to ease the current financial problems in this business sector and stimulate the market.

“At Honda, we are an independent company and are responsible for our own operation. Therefore we have not asked for any Government financial assistance and we will continue to manage this situation by ourselves.”

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson had said the measures offered a significant boost to the industry but denied the Government was offering a bail-out or a blank cheque.

He said the car industry had been in the frontline of the economic downturn, with output falling faster and further than in any other sector.

BMW, which also has a factory in Swindon, has said it will see what is on offer from the Government and if any strings will be attached before accepting any financial help.

Vauxhall and Ford are likely to take up any options which might be open to them.