ADDITIONAL expansion at Honda's Swindon plant will enable the manufacturer to meet growing fleet demand for Civic and the new Accord next year. Honda announced the creation of a further 400 jobs at the Swindon factory as it gears up for full production of the Civic Aero deck and the all-new Accord alongside the Civic 5-door.

The expansion takes the workforce to almost 3,000 for an investment of £460 million. It will increase capacity from 100,000 to 150,000 by the end of next year. Honda uses 248 local suppliers to achieve 90% European content, with about 75% of Swindon-built cars exported.

Corporate sales manager Nicholas Phillips said the appeal of running UK-built cars would further strengthen Honda's sales in the fleet market. 'From a fleet perspective this shot in the arm will enable us to match production more effectively with peak periods of demand during the year,' he said.