FEARS that Japan would pull production out of the UK after Brexit, have been dismissed by the European President of Honda after the launch of the new Civic hatchback in Swindon, this week.

As the company celebrates 30 years in the town this month, Katsushi Inoue gave said there would be no change to the company’s production plans.

“We will continue in Swindon as normal and we remain committed to our operations here in the UK,” he said.

Swindon’s Honda factory employs 3,600 people and about 600 new jobs were created for the latest Civic, which is the tenth Civic model produced since 1973.

The new Civic will be the first European vehicle to be available with Honda’s all-new 1.0-litre and 1.5-litre VTEC Turbo petrol engines.

It is currently being exported to the USA and will be available in the UK from April.

Honda Swindon is now a global hub and will be exporting to more than 90 countries, including the important American market.

Cars are already being shipped to the States and one car comes off the production line every 69 seconds. That is 600 cars every day and 160,000 every year.

Honda has committed to investing £200 million in the Swindon site for the new Civic bringing its total spend in Swindon over 30 years of more than £2.2bn.

Jason Smith, the director of Honda UK Manufacturing, said: “We are committed to delivering a quality vehicle that lives up to the Honda Civic name and it has been a great honour to produce the new Civic.

“We were chosen to do this job because of the excellent workforce we have here and we recognise that our employees are a vital part of our mix.

Paul Britton, the CEO of the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce, of which Swindon is a member, said: “Honda has played a significant part in the Swindon economy since the factory opened. It is a success story for the town and the UK and we are proud of it.”

Next year a new diesel 1.6-litre i-DTEC engine is due to be launched.

Honda opened in Swindon in 1985 and has the capacity to build 250,000 cars a year.