LONDON -- Honda is set to announce the closure of its Swindon car plant in South West England putting 3,500 jobs at risk, Sky News reported on Monday.
The broadcaster said that the announcement by Honda could come on Tuesday, and that the plant was scheduled to close in 2022.
Honda decision is not related to Brexit, a local lawmaker, Justin Tomlinson, told Reuters on Monday.
Tomlinson, who voted for Brexit in 2016, said he had met with the British business minister and representatives from Honda who had confirmed the plans. "They were due to make a statement tomorrow morning, it's obviously broken early," Tomlinson, lawmaker for North Swindon, said.
"This is not Brexit-related. It is a reflection of the global market. They are seeking to consolidate production in Japan," he said.
The factory builds the Civic five-door hatchback for global markets including Europe and the U.S. and the CR-V crossover, according to the Automotive News Europe Guide to European Assembly Plants.
Most Civics and CR-Vs built in Swindon are exported to mainland Europe. European sales of Civic models were 42,308 last year, up 6 percent, according to JATO Dynamics market researchers. CR-V sales in Europe fell 18 percent to 27,337.
A Honda spokesman said the report was "speculation."
Honda built just over 160,000 vehicles at the factory last year, about 10 percent of Britain's total output of 1.52 million cars.
The company said last month that it will shut its UK operations for six days in April to help it counter any border disruption from the Britain's departure from the EU. It has also said it was preparing to front-load some production at the plant to ship overseas and build up inventories.
Japanese carmakers Nissan, Toyota and Honda build roughly half of Britain's cars and, along with the rest of the sector, have been proponents of free and unfettered trade after Brexit, calling on politicians to provide clarity as soon as possible.
Nissan earlier this month canceled plans to build the X-Trail SUV at its plant in Sunderland, England, citing Brexit concerns.
U.S. carmaker Ford told British Prime Minister Theresa May last week that it may have to move some production out of Britain because of Brexit, according to a source.
