The Business Secretary Vince Cable must be starting to run out of different ways he can say ‘this is another success story for the UK car industry’ –such is the number of new investments announced by car companies over the last couple of years.

The latest is from Honda, which has announced it will be injecting a further £267m into its Swindon plant. The money will create further capacity in order to build the new Civic and CR-V models, as well as a brand new 1.6-litre diesel engine.

The Swindon site is set to produce 183,000 cars this year, but within 3 years the company intends to be producing 250,000. The news doesn’t just give Vince Cable something to smile about. A whole host of suppliers in the UK will benefit from the news, and the 3,500 strong workforces will feel their jobs are even more secure. The most recent recruitment drive sourced 500 new workers – the biggest such investment by the company for over 10 years, and may be extended.

While 40 per cent of the cars production ends up on the UK’s roads, the remainder is exported to over 60 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Africa.

At a time when many consumers are tightening their belts it seems that the Honda brand is still strong; a maker of cars that tend not to cause their owners to use their breakdown insurance policies – at least not too often!