Honda is planning to cut 800 jobs at its Swindon plant, blaming weak demand across Europe, BBC News reported.

It is the first time the Japanese carmaker has cut jobs in the UK since it began manufacturing there in 1992.

The Swindon plant, which produces the Civic, Jazz and CR-V models, employs 3,500 people, having added 500 to the workforce a year ago.

Honda has begun a 90-day consultation period on the job cuts and says it hopes to avoid compulsory redundancies.

"Sustained conditions of low demand in European markets make it necessary to realign Honda's business structure," the company said in a statement.

It added that demand for cars in Europe had fallen by one million in the past year.

But Honda said it was still committed to manufacturing in the UK and Europe in the long term.

The Swindon plants built 166,000 cars in 2012, which was well below the capacity of 250,000.

It was a big jump from 2011 when 97,000 were produced, but still significantly down from the 230,000 made in 2008.