05 Polaris Phoenix 200 Gas Fuel Tank on 2040-parts.com

Honda cutting production in Swindon again – 500 jobs at risk

Honda is cutting another 500 jobs in Swindon It’s only a year since Honda announced 800 job cuts at Swindon (which eventually was 550) and now they’re about to cut a further 500 as weak demand – particularly in Europe – sees the Swindon plant producing just half the cars it could. The plan is to cut shifts from 3 to 2 a day, which will result in the loss of 340 permanent jobs and 160 temporary ones, and production will be centred on just one production line to increase efficiency and flexibility. The Swindon Plant – which builds the Civic, Civic Tourer, CR-V and Jazz (and the Civic Type-R from next year) – has been hard hit by the slump in European sales in the last five years and, despite still strong UK sales, production levels of 120,000 cars a year – just half of the Swindon capacity – are not enough to sustain the current staffing levels.

Mini at the London motor show 2008

By Guy Bird and CAR reader reporter Carcare Motor Shows 23 July 2008 22:14 Mini went ‘all intellectual’ on us with a university theme to its London stand on account of its Oxford connections. It also served up some quality crumpet (more of which later)… So what’s new on Mini’s London motor show stand?The ultimate Mini – the John Cooper Works version – went on sale on press day of the London motor show, offering 208bhp, 0-62mph in 6.5 seconds, a 148 mph top speed and a cool body kit. Click here for CAR's first drive of the JCW hot hatch.The £20,995 JCW hatch is the first of many planned JCW-badged Minis, with a Convertible version tipped for an unveil at the Detroit show in January 2009 and a Clubman JCW to follow in the same year with a similar price premium over existing models of about £1500.

Fiat Freemont revealed

The Fiat Freemont - Dodge Journey with a Fiat badge At the end of December we revealed that Fiat had decided they should take the Dodge Journey and turn it in to a Fiat. The Fiat Freemont – for that is what Fiat had decided to rename the Dodge Challenger for Europe –  would effectively be a replacement for the Fiat Ulysse MPV. It seems that Fiat has caught up with our story, so we now have official details on what the Freemont will offer.