news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8472115.stm
It was very nearly much worse though....
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It just shows you, now GM have analysed the figures, if the German government's bribe to keep all their plants open and labour force in place had succeeded the extremely efficient plant at Ellesmere Port would have been sacrificed for no good reason. It also helps having a Brit in charge as well!
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Years ago I bought a brand new H reg Vauxhall Astra, out of British loyalty and to support EP when times weren't good. The car duly arrived, and during the tyre kicking at the dealer we looked under bonnet, as men do. And there was the badge "Opel. Made in West Germany".
Let's hope the boot is on the other foot now.
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In 1978 I got a brand new company car Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1. British? No Belgian - it was excellent - 3 years and no issues - 33 months & on the point of buying it from the leasing company when a van driver took umbrage and bashed nigh on every panel by knocking me on the Off Side & rear into a wall on the M8 motorway @ Shotts to crease the Near side + front.
Panel damage only and it was rebuilt but not bought by me!
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My experience of Vauxhall was wholly negative and I cannot imagine anything which would persuade me to buy or lease another one - British made or not.
However, maybe (just maybe) the current weak pound is an opportunity for us to rebalance our economy towards manufacturing - or is this just wishful thinking.....?
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I do feel a bit sorry for the Belgians re the plant closure - you can imagine a small country not doing too well when sandwiched between two larger countries with their greater leverage - too often the fate of plucky little Belgium.. historically.
I'm secretly glad the Germans didn't get all their own way vis-a-vis plant rationalization - they're got a whopping great big car industry as it is, but glad EP survived on merit.
I wonder if the depreciated £ helped here - a bottom line reduction in production costs of 10-15% from a couple of years ago must have some impact in these calculations.
There's even the faint hope that the UK will be seen more & more as a low-ish cost production facility right of the coast of continental Europe, with a flexible workforce & bureaucracy-lite approach to working & employment practices.
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There's even the faint hope that the UK will be seen more & more as a low-ish cost production facility right of the coast of continental Europe with a flexible workforce & bureaucracy-lite approach to working & employment practices.
A policy that governments since about 1979 have been pursuing without much success it seems! We get all the crap low skill jobs and the serious stuff goes overseas. When something does work well (e.g. Cadbury) we are only too keen to sell off and then they take the jobs abroad.
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plucky little Belgium
A phrase that does indeed echo down the years....
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Years ago I bought a brand new H reg Vauxhall Astra out of British loyalty and to support EP when times weren't good.
I mused about doing that in a thread a couple of mths ago.
I know it's just a boring mid-sized car but it doesn't seem interesting in any way. And the Corsa camshaft thread has really put me off - I'd be mortified if anything like that happened.
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