Car industry faces ‘fight of our generation’ to avoid breakdown, says trade group boss
Britain’s car industry is locked in the “fight of our generation” to preserve the once-thriving sector, according to one of the UK’s most senior automotive bosses.
George Gillespie, the president of influential trade group the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), warned an annual gathering of industry chiefs that investment could dwindle to levels “barely enough to keep our existing plants operational” in the next three to five years if the government fails to secure a favourable Brexit deal for car makers.
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He said: “Uncertainty over Brexit and future trade has cost us dearly.”
“We have all spent millions on ‘no deal’ preparation … Millions that should have been spent on research, on development, on design – on making things better.”
“I believe we are in the fight of our generation to preserve this industry we all love,” he added.
The warning comes during a period of unprecedented upheaval for the global automotive industry, as companies grapple with the challenge of commercialising electric cars and self-driving technology at the same time as a damaging slowdown in sales.
This has been exacerbated by US President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war with China and – for firms with UK operations – uncertainty over the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU.
The multiple pressures have already forced Ford, Honda and Nissan to pull existing and planned manufacturing from their UK factories, which will cost thousands of jobs.
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SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes warned an unfavourable Brexit deal or a no-deal exit could cost the economy as much as £40bn in the coming years from the hit to the car industry.
“Cherished production lines mothballed; workforces cut; a haemorrhaging of skills, of investment,” he said, of what could happen in a no-deal.