Leyland’s Honda Target

DAILY MIRROR
Leyland’s Honda Target
By Alan Law

British Leyland will be producing between 50,000 and 60,000 Japanese Honda cars by the middle of 1981, it was announced yesterday. The engines and transmission systems will be imported from Japan. The bodies will be made at Leyland's Speke factory in Liverpool and the final assembly will take place at Canley in Coventry.

The latest moves in the State - owned car manufacturer's Japanese deal were announced at a press conference in Tokyo and later confirmed by British Leyland in London . The two firms have reached " basic agreement on :

• The Model to be built in this country —“in the 1800 to 2000 class,"


• The level of production and the scale of royalties.


• The Japanese say that negotiations have reached a " final stage " and that the licensing agreement is likely to be signed by September.