HONDA Logistics has announced it will be moving to a new site on the South Marston industrial estate and could be taking on more staff.

The company, which is the division of the Japanese giant that deals with moving spare parts, power equipment and motorbikes around the country to dealerships and garages, will replace the current base in Stratton St Margaret.

Honda has bought the 350,000sq ft made-to-measure warehouse which is about the size of five football pitches from ProLogis Developments in a multimillion pound deal.

Work is due to start this month and will be finished in Septem-ber. There will also be 21,000sq ft of offices on three storeys.

Honda spokesman Paul Ormond said: "The move marks an expansion of Honda's parts operation as the car operation itself develops at the Swindon site.

"We're finding that as the car sales continue to grow, both new and used, there is expanding demand."

In February Honda's sales were 14.8 per cent up on the same time last year with the Jazz Accord Diesel and CR-V Diesel the top performers.

In addition, the manufacturer recorded a 12.8 per cent increase in European sales for the first two months of 2005, compared with the previous year.

The next generation Civic will be built in Swindon and will go on sale at the beginning of next year a development that Honda expects will mean further growth.

About 15 years ago the logistics arm was in the South Marston factory site, in an area now turned over to research and development.

It moved to Stratton St Margaret 10 years ago and this move is to a significantly bigger site.

Mr Ormond said: "We are one of the best in the industry for the turnaround of spare parts our remit is to get the parts there by the next day and we are 99 per cent successful, and having parts in Swindon allows us to meet the demand. We can't confirm taking on any more people at the moment but that may happen as the business continues to expand."

ProLogis will soon start building another 300,000sq ft warehouse at South Marston Park.

ProLogis's first vice president Paul Weston said: "It is part of our ethos to seek quick and efficient solutions for our customers.

"Honda had been considering this move for some time but it needed ProLogis's ability to make it happen within 10 months.

"I have every confidence that the speculative shed we will be building in Swindon will attract substantial interest."

ProLogis was advised by Knight Frank and Swindon-based King Sturge in the deal.

South Marston Park is already home to Aldi, BOC and Exel.