All that Jazz - Honda unveils UK model

(Honda)

The first British-built Honda Jazz will roll off the new production line in Swindon.

The car manufacturer hopes the model will signal the end of a difficult year which saw the plant close down for four months.

Production of the Jazz for European customers has been moved from Japan to the Wiltshire factory where Honda hopes to build 20,000 units.

Honda says 75 per cent of the cars manufactured at Swindon will be for the UK market, with the other 25 per cent exported to 55 countries across Europe and other regions, including South Africa.

The addition of Jazz brings the planned total production level for the Swindon plant in this financial year to 100,600.

Honda's 3,400 workers returned to work at Swindon in June after a four month shutdown, during which 1,300 workers took the company's offer of voluntary redundancy.

The employees who remained agreed to a 3 per cent pay cut while managers had their pay reduced by 5 per cent.

During the closure, Honda rebuilt assembly lines and brought in new robots and machinery for the Jazz.

The Jazz has become one of Honda's most successful cars in Europe following a trend for buyers to downsize from bigger models to small, more fuel efficient vehicles.

The five-door family supermini has made up 70 per cent of all of Honda's Government Scrappage Scheme deals.