23/09/2009
The UK car industry is said to be in trouble
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Ford has stopped making cars at Dagenham, Vauxhall has closed its Luton car plant, and industrial relations at MG Rovers Longbridge factory are tense.The industrys slow decline from its 1960s heyday has in recent years been accelerated by a fall in export demand owing to the euros weakness against the pound.But reports of the industrys demise are exaggerated.UK car output may have fallen by about 9% last year compared with 2000, but no fewer than 1.5 million still rolled off the production lines.FORD the worlds second largest automotive company has stopped producing Ford cars in Britain, but instead, the UK is becoming one of Fords centres for engine production.At Bridgend, just under 1,400 workers make the engines for a wide range of Ford cars.This investment is expected to lead to another 500 new jobs.Dagenham, meanwhile, is set to become the global centre for diesel engines.The operation in east London employed 1,600 people before the car production was halted.Ford says it wants to add 500 jobs over the coming years, although internal company documents obtained by the BBC last year suggested that some of these are actually just transfers from other parts of Ford UK.At Enfield 1,000 employees work in a research and development centre, while in Southampton 2,100 people produce the Ford Transit van.But then, Ford is still producing passenger cars in the UK, albeit in the disguise of its premium brands.Jaguar, with plants at Coventry and Birmingham is the big success story of UK motor manufacturing, posting four successive years of strong sales. In 2001, the company sold more than 100,000 cars for the first time ever.The new baby Jaguar, the X400,is being produced in Fords Halewood factory, which churned out Escorts until September last year.As a luxury car maker, price competition is not high on Jaguars agenda, making it easier for the car maker to cope with the euros weakness against the pound.
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