THE 10th generation of the Honda Civic hatchback has been unveiled at the company's UK manufacturing base in Swindon - and it's set to be exported to 70 countries around the world.

The company has invested a further £200 million into the factory in preparation for production of the new Civic, bringing Honda's total investment in the UK plant to more than £2.2 billion since 1989.

The Swindon plant - officially known as Honda of the UK Manufacturing (HUM) - has recently become the global production hub for the new Civic hatchback and is Honda's flagship production facility in Europe, employing 3,600 people, and plays a key role in Honda's global manufacturing network.

Katsushi Inoue, president and chief operating officer of Honda Motor Europesaid: "As we reveal this new Civic, we look forward with confidence as we expand the role of our Swindon manufacturing plant.

"Honda has made significant investments in this facility and this next step isan important endorsement of the skills and expertise of our workforce. We're also setting out a clear and sustainable future role for HUM, broadening our export markets beyond Europe."

The launch of the latest Civic builds upon Honda's strong recent sales performance in Europe.

Honda is Europe's fastest growing mainstream brand in 2016 with sales growing by 33 per cent compared to 2015 and hopes to reach sales figures of 200,000 sales in Europe.