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Honda rolls off the two millionth car from its Swindon factory
By Yoann Besnard on 24 February 2008 | 
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Honda has announced that its British factory located in Swindon rolled off the two-millionth car since it started manufacturing cars 16 years ago. The two-millionth car was a silver CR-V.
The Swindon opened for the first time 22 years ago to build car parts before producing car in 1992. Recently, the company has invested £80 million to integrate more and more parts manufacturing. Of this amount, Honda invested £22m in a new plastic injection and painting facility capable of moulding and painting 1,300 sets of bumpers for the Civic and CR-V each day. The engine plant gets £16m for a new casting facility which will enable it to independently cast diesel blocks, a process which, until now, has only been carried out in Japan. £50 million is being invested in welding and paint production technology, increasing efficiency and production flexibility.
The factory which employs 4,200 people, has a production capacity of 250,000 vehicles, 50% of the company’s current sales in Europe. Last year the production reached 237,783 units. The Swindon factory builds the three-door and five-door Civic, included the Type R version, and the CR-V.