It’s decision time. Britain needs to ask itself if it wants to be a major car producer or whether it’s content to sit on the sidelines. I’ve long warned that the UK has, in production terms, been tumbling down the international league tables. We now churn out as few cars as countries such as nothingy Malaysia and at-war Russia. Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey have no domestic car makers of international renown. But they build more cars than us. As for the Brazilians, South Koreans, Germans, Indians, Japanese and Chinese… they still thrash us. They’re all thriving. We’re barely surviving. Since 2000, Peugeot, MG Rover, Jaguar, Ford, Honda and Vauxhall have closed factories here. Put another way, during the past quarter of a century, the UK has lost one major car plant roughly every five years – with those remaining mothballed or working below capacity (and therefore under-performing). As we’ve said before, UK car production is on life support. Even the chief exec of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders is asking: “Why would you build cars in Britain?” The UK Government and suspiciously quiet trade union movement would do well to at least try answering that scary question. As should the rest of us. Now that we’re free (allegedly) from the EU and its complicated rules on state aid for car firms and, in turn, their workers, shouldn’t we at least be discussing the possibility of subsidising them again, just as we heavily subsidised Nissan’s factory in the eighties Also, we need to be far more honest about the rapid decline in UK car production numbers and the reasons for the freefall. It’s obvious – and then some – that as those aforementioned automotive giants closed their factories, UK PLC’s production volumes suffered, as did the largely blameless workers who were made redundant. Less obvious but almost as important is the following fact: the remaining UK factories have to be more efficient and productive with more, not fewer, production line workers. Nissan acknowledges this, and is doing something about it by freeing up one of its two Sunderland lines so Chery of China can lease or buy it. Simple, brilliant, entirely logical. Can we have something similar, please, in the Midlands where Land Rover volumes are far lower than they should be? Also, increased output and improved economies of scale might reduce the extraordinarily high prices being charged for its cars these days. More importantly, the ongoing stoppage of Jag production is a senseless waste of good factories and workers. I’m seriously wondering if Tata knows what to do with the brand. Is it time for Jaguar to be sold again, perhaps to a leading Chinese firm that knows nothing about closing production lines and everything about keeping them running, while ensuring the workers are kept busy and enjoy improved job security?
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