My final word on the Honda thing. I'm still seeing people insist that it had nothing to do with Brexit. Apparently the CEO of Honda said so in a press release.
I wonder how many other corporate press releases those people take at face value?
Much more instructive is to delve a little bit deeper than the PR machines of government and corporations... this, for example, makes a fascinating read:
PDF File
It's a statement submitted by the Honda Corporation to the UK's Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Committee on the subject of "Leaving the EU: implications for the automotive industry". It's from last year.
It makes no mention of "global consolidation" and in fact makes it clear that the UK operation will be a part of the conversion of electric vehicles (i.e. they had plans to switch from petrol to electric at Swindon).
Most of the document, however is spent detailing the difficulties that Brexit will cause its business.
I am not saying Brexit is the only reason. But people saying it's not a major reason are simply not bothering to look at the facts. You can't read that document; which is basically Honda warning the British government about the negative consequences of Brexit a year ago; you can't read it and not think Brexit is a MAJOR factor in Honda's decision.
And as I say; they even warned the government a year ago. So whatever the CEO says now in a press release might be worth taking with a pinch of salt.
