The first production model of Japanese car giant Honda’s new Civic Type-R hot hatch will roll off its Swindon assembly line next week – giving the plant another boost after several years of job losses and cutbacks.
A ceremony on Thursday to mark the start of production of the hotly anticipated car, pictured, will be attended by 600 Honda associates (workers) at its South Marston plant along with senior management from Honda of the UK Manufacturing (HUM) – the division of the global group that runs the massive plant. 
The latest version of the Type-R – which is based on the made-in-Swindon Civic five-door – boasts a top speed of 167mph and a price tag just short of £30,000.
The line-off ceremony comes three months after Honda announced that it is to invest £200m upgrading the plant to make it the global manufacturing centre for the next-generation Civic, with production due to start in the summer of next year.
That brought an end to several years of job losses and production cut backs. Early last year Honda announced plans to axe nearly 500 jobs at the plant, close one of its two production lines and reduce daily shifts from three to two as European sales went into reverse.
That blow came a year after nearly 600 jobs were axed Honda struggled against the global car sales downturn.
Hundreds of jobs were also shed from the plant in the previous years – partly as a result of a shortage of parts following the Japanese earthquake – taking the workforce to below 3,000 for the first time in a decade. Associate numbers have since increased to around 3,100.
While the site has the capacity to produce 250,000 cars a year, it built less than half that number last year. In 2008 it produced 230,000 vehicles. Around 90% of Honda Swindon’s output goes to the European market.
Honda has invested a total of £2.2bn in the 370-acre site, which began life as a pre-delivery inspection site for imported cars in the 1985. Engine production at South Marston started in 1989 with full car assembly starting three years later. A second car production line was added in 2001.
Meanwhile, Ricky Wilson, lead singer of the Kaiser Chiefs and a judge on BBC1’s The Voice, has been named as the ambassador for the new Type-R. He will kick off his role by driving the car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed tomorrow.
After owning a series of what he described as old and dodgy cars, Ricky said of the Type R: “For the first time, I feel like I can trust something at high speed. For a car that’s a small road car, it gives you a taste of the race
“For something you can walk in and buy in a dealership, I think it’s brilliant.”
Honda Civic Type-R factfile
PRICE: £29,995
ENGINE: 2.0-litre, 306bhp, four-cylinder turbo petrol
TRANSMISSION: Six-speed manual driving front wheels
PERFORMANCE: 0-62mph 5.7 seconds; top speed 167mph
MPG: 38.7 combined
C02 EMISSIONS: 170g/km
