MG’s, KIA’s etc. started flooding the market. Incredibly cheap.
The Japanese did it to Australia, set up factories in Thailand, local carmakers couldn’t compete, bang went the automotive industry
Takes a certain kind of dumb-fuckery to vote for something that will in particular directly have negative consequences for yourself and/or your local community.
Right. But there's been basically no recovery since 2022 other than a slight increase from 775k to the current running total of 838k, which is peanuts compared to the drop since 2020.
Well, yeah. I didn't disagree with Andy B's graph.
I noted the exceptional/additional decline in 2020 and offered a reason for it.
I reckon the limited "recovery" post-2022 is about where we'd be if the 2016-2020 (pre-covid) decline had remained consistent and covid/lockdown had never happened.
There is a connection though. The Govt's EV targets are not achievable because there isn't the demand. They are too expensive and people don't trust the infrastructure. The fines make it unprofitable. Manufacturers are considering their options which maybe to leave the UK.
No it isn't. But it is up to them to do the best for their business and all those who work in the industry. This Govt seem to be tone deaf to reality. There's a balance to be struck. Ploughing ahead regardless is foolhardy.
They've just been elected and are doing what they said they'd do, caving into pressure from the motor manufacturers isn't going to benefit anyone except motor manufacturers. Who are already subsidised to the hilt.
Not all are subsidised. The motor trade has already had a massive hit because of Brexit. No point in winning the race to ban petrol cars but lose 1000s of jobs. There is surely a compromise. And what exactly are we going to do with all those dead, 8 year-old batteries? There's a downside to EVs too.
I’m starting to imagine a scenario where Labour wins the next election and the Lib Dem’s become the official opposition because they openly discuss Brexit’s failure.
BUT the Conservatives continue obsessing about the need to win over Reform UK voters because Reform UK has… ahem.. 5 MPs 😂
Brexit was a disaster on so many levels. Why would a country choose to drive a wedge between itself & its neighboring trade partners?
Of course, we in the US are going to have to suffer under tRump’s disastrous tariffs which amount to something similar to Brexit.
They’re wasting their time. This Brexiteer Government whose central policy is ECONOMIC GROWTH refuses to recognise that the easiest way to achieve it is to rejoin the SM.
If this was Twitter, I could pull up all my old tweets about how Brexit would actually work. And this it. It was never going to be a mass exodus. Factory production lines have projected life spans. And major companies lease their offices. There is no financially practical way to move a production
Line. Expense plus downtime makes it impractical. So companies were never going to flee overnight. Similarly, there is no point moving your offices when you have 3 or 5 or 10yrs on your lease. So Brexit was always going to play out like this. As production lines need to be retooled or leases expire,
Companies will shift themselves to a country that is not stuck behind an economic barrier. Even companies that would have liked to stay in the UK will find that investors and banks would give them better terms to move into an economic “free trade” zone
Is this one of the "Brexit Benefits" we used to hear so much about?
Stellantis are a French company so they have no traditional loyalty to the UK and Brexit has made it difficult and uneconomic to export to Europe. Sadly a Tory own-goal.
Let's not forget Honda closing its Swindon plant (3000+ jobs lost) after Brexit, too... how much long will Starmer/Reeves ignore the elephant in the room?
Skilled workers heading towards the DWP. Where will they find replacement jobs? I'd move to France if that's where the company is transferring and expanding the business. UK is sinking fast unless the rejoin EU trade.
Ah indeed. Brexit barriers & their extra costs making everything worse again. Car manufacturing relying on JIT & EU components was always under threat from any brexit as were UK component manufacturers. 000’s jobs directly & indirectly affected. Many gone already.
It's almost as if our decision to make it more costly and complex to trade with our nearest neighbours has made trading with our nearest neighbours more costly and complex, isn't it?
Most of us, with a fully justified opportunity to say “I told you so!”, would take it. Just why is that so utterly taboo whenever the ‘told you so’ happens to be Brexit based?
Nor me, but the level of self imposed omertà appears to be in inverse proportion to one’s ability to actually change anything for the better. See Starmer, K.
"Mr Sunak cited what he called "Brexit benefits" he introduced as chancellor and reforms to retained EU law which he said would save business a billion pounds a year".
According to The Mail, it's because of 'Net Zero Madness'.
GBN will probably blame the EHCR.
Meanwhile, at the Express, the front page declares that your Christmas turkey will be hugely expensive because of "Labour's Budget".
Somehow.
I attended the SMMT dinner on Tuesday night the day this was announced. None of the speakers from the SMMT/politicians mentioned Brexit/not being part of Single Market & Customs Union in relation to it. Lots of platitudes about better trading arrangements but cowardice in addressing the real issue
Stellantis is, just like VW (Volkswagen), having problems with car sales in Europe (they are low, hardly selling any new cars). So it might not only be the Brexit. It's just about cost reduction in general.
Any tradesperson or engineer in Vauxhall will have had “measure twice, cut once” drummed into them throughout their apprenticeships. Why then did they not want a vote on the proposed Brexit arrangements. I’ll never understand that 🤷🏼
You mean they’d been considering it for months? I thought we were supposed to believe it was because of Starmer and Reeves. Now I’m confused. Do things that happened before the general election still have consequences?
I’m old enough to remember David Davis threatening the German car manufacturers if the EU didn’t give us favourable terms. How’s that working out Dave?
When your land is very expensive and worth selling to an airport and ,unlike BMW-MERC-MG-BYD-VW you hit the EV market late then this might happen.
I’m not EV enthusiast (I don’t have one) but who wants a VAUXHALL EV? 40k Astra?
I tend to think quite strategically as a retired FCA - it is unlikely EP will remain viable in the long term: unenviable Brexit ‘dividend’, sadly.
Passed the Home of the Astra many times on the M53.
@kayburley.bsky.social on @skynewsrss.bsky.social this morning blaming #EVs for Vauxhall's malaise while ignoring new car registrations numbers (YTD)
Diesel -12.8%
Petrol -1.8%
BEV +14.2%
PHEV +22.5%
Hydrogen +11.1%
Her argument: daughter in laws EV possibly couldn't do 100 miles if it snowed🎄🎅
Not the greatest readers of the market from what I have read about them. Made some clanging errors in the US.
I am having a very hard time feeling sorry for them.
Thanks, was wondering if anything had changed/improved/got horrendously worse with this in the 18 months since that article was written. That answers that. 🙁
It's not just Brexit. My son is in the car trade. The Government's EV targets are crippling the industry. People are still wary of buying them because of the lack of infrastructure. I want this Govt to succeed but am despairing of how deaf they seem to reality and how poorly they are communicating.
Car trade needs to get itself sorted on EV's most salesmen in the trade are utterly utterly clueless about EV's as they dont want to know. People are worried about buying them due to fearmongering. There are as of November 2024 68,273 Charging points of which 13,444 arer Rapid or Ultra Rapid.
@mrjamesob.bsky.social did you see Andrew Pierce on @goodmorningbritain.bsky.social this morning spreading more misinformation about electric cars with the help of suzannah reid? It was one woman complaining about a hybrid car🤷♂️
local content rules starting to bite...as was clearly pointed out when people voted for brexit. Toyota also working hard on this problem.
Even if it does not close, the amount of effort required to comply will be enormous but largely unseen.
Vauxhall was at once a british car manufacturer swallowed up by GM. but the name had brand recognition in the UK so in the UK it remained. Same in Australia where the principle GM brand is Holden under a similar brand recognition thing.
Vauxhall had a racing legacy before GM and therefore kept. Although Vauxhall never had what we today call a Works team, the Vauxhall 30–98 was run very successfully in the 1920's. GM Bought Vauxhall in 1925.
Think my favourite advertising cock up was a soap company trying to sell its wares in the Arabic world the poster was quite simple a pile of dirty clothes then a box of soap powder and then a pile of clean clothes however someone forgot that in the Arabic world they read right to left.
I just watched a thing about Nazi wives & they were talking about Unity Mitford. I’d never heard of her, other than as one of the sisters, but her story is wild.
A year ago, they warned of factory closures due to Brexit. Now, they're closing. But instead of blaming Brexit, the papers shift the blame to the 'Green agenda'. Isn't that the real point?
When I first started keeping notes on UK car industry decline Jan 2018, SMMT figures showed that 1,671,166 cars were built in the UK in 2017, down from 1,722,698 in 2016. That represented a fall of 3.0% compared to 2016 - first decline in 8 yrs
I worked for jaguar land rover they actually told all of their employees what voting brexit would mean in terms of jobs, supply chain etc I don't know how many others did the same.
I think he was using the article for a different reason - that is using a contemporaneous article to illustrate that Vauxhall was actively warning of Brexit risks to UK automotive industry.
Mr Sunak cited what he called "Brexit benefits" he introduced as chancellor and reforms to retained EU law which he said would save business a billion pounds a year.
Benefits are listed below:-
Comments
This lot need to be held to account!
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/26/vauxhall-owner-plans-to-shut-luton-van-factory-putting-1100-jobs-at-risk
I'm sure we're unfortunately going to be seeing more and more of this as time goes by.
The Japanese did it to Australia, set up factories in Thailand, local carmakers couldn’t compete, bang went the automotive industry
The human brain is rather fascinating, isn't it.
https://media.smmt.co.uk/september-2024-uk-car-manufacturing/
I noted the exceptional/additional decline in 2020 and offered a reason for it.
I reckon the limited "recovery" post-2022 is about where we'd be if the 2016-2020 (pre-covid) decline had remained consistent and covid/lockdown had never happened.
They're closing the factory.
No network, no EV car demand.
Another tory failure.
#Brexshit
BUT the Conservatives continue obsessing about the need to win over Reform UK voters because Reform UK has… ahem.. 5 MPs 😂
It must be bad.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/26/vauxhall-owner-plans-to-shut-luton-van-factory-putting-1100-jobs-at-risk
Polls of farmers showed they did vote 58% leave, but that's slightly below rural areas in general.
That fishermen voted 92% leave shows how easily people can be conned.
IMO, in both cases, the small business people were misled by the bigger fish.
Where's the edit button on this thing?
I trust Bluesky will roll out these features in the near future.
Of course, we in the US are going to have to suffer under tRump’s disastrous tariffs which amount to something similar to Brexit.
It’s like we hold all of the wrong cards.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/26/vauxhall-owner-plans-to-shut-luton-van-factory-putting-1100-jobs-at-risk
https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/politics/eu-referendum-luton-votes-for-brexit-1227313
Have been great 😂
Stellantis are a French company so they have no traditional loyalty to the UK and Brexit has made it difficult and uneconomic to export to Europe. Sadly a Tory own-goal.
Meanwhile in failing Scotland....any chance you could highlight this?
Still looking for those Brexit benefits 🔭
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/26/vauxhall-owner-plans-to-shut-luton-van-factory-putting-1100-jobs-at-risk
GBN will probably blame the EHCR.
Meanwhile, at the Express, the front page declares that your Christmas turkey will be hugely expensive because of "Labour's Budget".
Somehow.
Surprise! 🙄
Meanwhile, media outlets appear to not want to report on it . Very strange. 🤔
Left or right; up or down; forward or backward!
I’m not EV enthusiast (I don’t have one) but who wants a VAUXHALL EV? 40k Astra?
But yes .
They predicted closure of a plant if Brexit happened, Probably Elesmere Port.
But they voted for it nonetheless
So fk em.
That big gob and very long snout for sniffing out deals with millionaires takes him around the world & back.
He's a world class fixit but not in a good way. (Jim❌ no)Nige ✅ fixes it for Britain.
He's a traitor.
#Vauxhall #Luton #Brexit
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65612295
Whether or not you need one, is a different question.
Stellantis being based in Europe was never going to get a bung from either Tory or Labour.
Ellesmere Port will go soon enough too,sadly.
Passed the Home of the Astra many times on the M53.
Diesel -12.8%
Petrol -1.8%
BEV +14.2%
PHEV +22.5%
Hydrogen +11.1%
Her argument: daughter in laws EV possibly couldn't do 100 miles if it snowed🎄🎅
I am having a very hard time feeling sorry for them.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/26/vauxhall-owner-plans-to-shut-luton-van-factory-putting-1100-jobs-at-risk
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/22/uk/brexit-blue-passports-gbr-scli-intl/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/26/vauxhall-owner-plans-to-shut-luton-van-factory-putting-1100-jobs-at-risk
Ffs.
https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/regular-features/the-digby-jones-index-2/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8n3n62wq4o
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/26/vauxhall-owner-plans-to-shut-luton-van-factory-putting-1100-jobs-at-risk
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/26/vauxhall-owner-plans-to-shut-luton-van-factory-putting-1100-jobs-at-risk
Then add this inevitable next one.
Finally!!!
BBC quite forgot that Brexit had happened, when they reported on this on the Today programme this morning.
Even if it does not close, the amount of effort required to comply will be enormous but largely unseen.
Please keep up, you’re only out by 7 years.
GM sold Opel to PSA Group in 2017!
FCA & PSA Group merged in 2021 to form Stellantis!
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/26/vauxhall-owner-plans-to-shut-luton-van-factory-putting-1100-jobs-at-risk
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8n3n62wq4o.amp
The BBC is always shy in mentioning #Brexit
But fact is yet another car plant is closing in U.K. and some production is moved to France
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/26/vauxhall-owner-plans-to-shut-luton-van-factory-putting-1100-jobs-at-risk
Brexit could spell end of Ellesmere Port plant, says Vauxhall owner https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/29/brexit-could-spell-end-of-ellesmere-port-plant-says-vauxhall-owner?CMP=share_btn_url
2024: 426,000 cars
It looks like it’s disappearing.
Also other Western countries suffer declines, but ours has been the most drastic one and everyone knows why.
And predicted.
And Len McCluskey’s Unite the Union that represents so many car workers supported Brexit, didn’t it?
I remember trying to have a conversation with a car worker lauding the control Brexit would bring them.
It was hopeless trying to suggest the reverse would happen
When you produce zero cars you have total control…
I was pointing out that James was relying on an old article and that the business decisions have moved on.
Better to rely on a new one.
And the risk of tariff issues still looms large.
https://bsky.app/profile/edwinhayward.com/post/3lbwin4qr6s2q
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/26/vauxhall-owner-plans-to-shut-luton-van-factory-putting-1100-jobs-at-risk
In fact, we're still going backwards.
Since then war in Palestine, Astronauts stuck in space, United have likely had 2 new managers & one on the way ......
Benefits are listed below:-
The UKs slow puncture