Honda Motor Co. is considering cutting about 340 jobs at its plant in Swindon in southern England by suspending one of its two production lines this autumn due to a sluggish business outlook in Europe, company sources said Wednesday.
The automaker will consult with the labor union on reducing by about 10 percent the 3,300-strong workforce at the plant, which manufactures three models including the Civic passenger car.
The plant's annual production capacity is over 250,000 units, but in 2013 it only manufactured 140,000 units. It is expecting output to fall to less than 130,000 units this year.
Honda decided to halt the line's operation since a sales increase is unlikely over the next two to three years, they said.
The company's operating loss came to ¥32.0 billion in Europe in the April-December period, ¥12.1 billion more than in the same period a year before. It slashed about 800 jobs at the factory in 2013.