Honda Brexting

And more electric cars have been sold in Europe than the USA. (And a LOT more in China). It’s possible hydrogen will fuel long distance trucks and buses, there are early adopter projects in existence now. If we simply carry on as we are, the earth will be uninhabitable.

For confirmation see www.iea.org/gevo2018/

Nanatoone

I have to be careful not to appear as querying your post which I assure is not the reason for my question.

I like to know facts and I was interested to understand your point ' The Swindon plant was geared up to make the new Civic, yes the electric car.'.

I can't find anything on this can you give me the name to follow up my thoughts, maybe learn something, re the Honda closure.

Thank you.

No, Honda is not about diesel. That is a lot of sloppy reporting
Ah well, best tell the BBC then.
the reporter was interviewing someone from Honda.

I am sure there is a lot they are not telling us.

Are you new counterpoint? If so, welcome to Gransnet!

If we simply carry on as we are, the earth will be uninhabitable.
Well, I agree.
There is another thread on that counterpoint

Andy I would never cast aspersions on your choice of reading, although the Daily Express, is not my choice of paper.

What the paper actually said was The Japanese car giant said the announcement has come as the company concentrates on electrified cars as the industry note industry moves away from diesel vehicles.. Not quite what you said.

The models made in Swindon, Civic, Jazz etc are all small cars, however, none of them big hitters of the diesel market. Of course the local MPs and the Business Secretary issued a statement supporting Honda, but how many people read those statements

No decision like this is a simple one, the main reason is the restructuring of the car market, but it is a clever case of not blaming a hard decision on someone else, just letting them be blamed by others. The effect is the same.

The announcement of this closure has been very cleverly timed.

Monica- Just to clarify EV ranges.We have a Nissan leaf with a range of 130 miles and comfortably make the trip from yorkshire to east sussex with two charges ,each taking 30 minutes max at the service station.It took very little adjustment and the on a long journey I'm glad to stretch my legs and need a toilet break.Only once have we found charging points out of action and asked if we could use the maintenance road to flip over the motorway to charge on the other side.
We do have off-road parking ,which obviously not everyone has.Because we liked our electric car so much I now drive an electric van for my business.That does only have 80 miles range but as I work locally so rarely need to top up charge during the day.My van was bought second hand but with very little mileage on the clock.Our local Lidl has a free charging point so can plug in whilst I shop.

Thank you for that washerwoman, I think the car I read about had an even bigger range than the Leaf.

The real problem is that, as yet, there are not electric engines powerful enough for fully loaded family cars, nor can they cope with extensive driving around remote areas where, not only charging points, but petrol stations are thin on the ground.

True the infrastructure in remote areas is not fully developed as yet but we have been on holiday in rural Shropshire,North Wales and the Lake district and managed just fine.An app on the phone tells you where charging points are and with a bit of forward planning it can be done.
I don't really understand what you mean by a fully loaded family car? We have travelled with DH ,myself and DGD plus our dogs and luggage.We pick up friends when we go out as I invariably drive as rarely drink so have 4 adults in the car.We drive it as a normal car.I carry stuff around in my van day in day out.The only time the charge drops significantly is if it's really cold and the heater is on full blast.But we were advised to put the heated seats and steering wheel on instead as they use less power.
Sorry diverging from the original thread !

no deal here we come fabulous

My right-wing Tory MP, listed as a member of the ERG, has written in response to me email to him, "There is never going to be a majority in Parliament for leaving the EU with no deal. That is not a mathematical possibility and there is an overwhelming majority for accepting any other solution"

varian you are adorable and so informed, I am well impressed by your skills. Big hugs

LOve the ERG

we are coming out totally.

Mind you I did that in 1982 !!!!

we will leave totally

I am in the majority....oh democracy love that x

Of course the only thing to do with andy is to ignore him- why is there no 'ignore' option on GN?

But please, is it really against GN etiquette to swear at him - just once- and tell him to B....rexit off!

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Stoke??

Bananas??

Just remind us what it was you wanted that thew evil EU would not let you have. Was it straight bananas or bendy banana?s

Andy , I think you probably meant to write stroke, not stoke but it’s ok you were probably in a hurry in your attempt to impart your form off humour to us as quickly as possible. Never mind deary, we will excuse you ?

Andy has admitted he’s dim/ thick which is why he has to repeat the same patronising ill-informed garbage.

Just remind us what it was you wanted that the evil EU would not let you have.
"Great Britain" varian
presumably the EU is to blame for our shrinking coastline.

hello bridge and tipps

great to see you.
love your opinions.

dearie .

you make me smile

we will be out totally soon.

what great news

then upwards and onwards

my country is great and I am proud of it...

big hug to tipps and bridge,

I value your opinion too.

one vote , we all had one,and leave won,, simples majority

No reply post would have been far more dignified Andy,
We Grannies are inured to the retorts of children.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Swindon, famous for its traffic intersections and steam-engine past, feels like Brexit Britain in a nutshell. Like the United Kingdom in general, the city of about 180,000 people boasts a proud industrial heritage stretching back to the 19th century. Current unemployment is low and the local economy has done reasonably well in the past few years. Yet the planned closure of the local Honda Motor Co. factory has dramatically altered the outlook, and residents are on edge.

“Honda leaving is like Brexit,” Dimitri Bretti, said through the serving window at Street Cafe, his burger joint just off the main street. “Nobody knows what comes next. While Brexit wasn’t to blame, according to Honda’s bosses, it will likely make finding a replacement employer all the harder.

Companies aren’t willing to put money in the U.K. right now given the uncertainty over the country’s future relationship with Europe. Nationally, investment has fallen for four straight quarters. That’s the worst stretch since the financial crisis, a time when Honda halted local production for four months.

Swindon, about 110 kilometers west of London, voted to leave the European Union in 2016 by an almost 55 percent majority. It’s not known for being exceptionally beautiful or cultural — its most famous landmark might be the “magic roundabout” intersection that encompasses six traffic circles in one. The end of the Honda site hits manufacturing links that go back to the Industrial Revolution. It was here that the bulk of locomotives for the famed Great Western Railway were built, and the town took over production of Spitfire fighter jets in World War II after the main plant was bombed. Lifelong resident Neil Toolan said the Honda decision reminds him of the demise of the local train industry in which he worked alongside his father and uncle. The main factory shut down in 1986.

“It is difficult, very difficult,” said Toolan, who eventually found a job with Royal Mail. Britain has long been a Japanese hub for European auto production, with Honda, Nissan Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. owning three of the country’s six largest factories. In pulling out, Honda cited changing global trends and slowing demand. That’s been evident for a while to the truck drivers who deliver parts to the sprawling complex on Swindon’s northeast edge.

“The amount of stuff that’s going in there over the last six to eight months, it’s just been pffff — it’s dropped right off,” says Ron Dunn, who drives his Yusen Logistics truck filled with electronic parts and air conditioning unit radiators from Milton Keynes to replenish the factory warehouses each day. Some of the guys I was talking to yesterday, they’ve got families, they’ve got mortgages and that. What are they going to do?” Honda’s factory is the size of 280 football fields and employs 3,500 people. Closing it down will be seen as another mark in the decline of British manufacturing.

There’s been a wave of bad news for the auto industry. Jaguar Land Rover, Britain’s biggest automaker, is scrapping jobs worldwide, many of them in the U.K., and there are questions about the future of facilities run by Ford and Peugeot. Just this month, Nissan scrapped plans to build the X-Trail sport utility vehicle at a plant in Sunderland due to a slump in demand for diesel cars and the unresolved status of U.K. trade after Brexit. Global trade conflicts aren’t helping either, with European automakers bracing for potential U.S. import duties. More than half of the Honda Civic models made in the U.K. are currently exported to North America. Yet in recent years Swindon has fared well economically with its mix of manufacturing and services jobs at big local employers like Nationwide Building Society, a mortgage lender, and stationery retailer WH Smith. Unemployment is low and wages are typical for the country overall. Workers are also more productive than average, official figures show.

While the job losses at Honda are a small number compared with the 160,000 jobs created across the U.K. in the last quarter, it’s still a body blow to the town. Truck driver Marcin Kaliniewicz, who estimates that about 90 percent of his current employer Nissin (UK) Ltd.’s contracts are related to the car factory, says he knows Honda workers who had been planning to buy homes in the area, but “everyone is going to change plans now.”

According to Lorraine Kardasz, who works at the Swindon Carers Center and knows families where multiple generations work at the Honda plant, the closure is casting a big shadow over the town. I don’t think there’s a huge amount of job prospects out there for people,” she said, gesturing down the main shopping street. “There’s a lot of families that are going to be relying on that money and when it’s gone they’re really going to struggle.”

www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/02/25/business/demise-hondas-u-k-factory-sums-britains-brexit-angst/#.XHbqw8D7Spo