The 206 plant is to close, more bad news for the UK car industry

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/4919312.stm



This in many ways is as bad as Rover but will never make the news as much because it is not a British owned company or a British marque.

 

Well it was on the 6 o'clock news this evening

 

This kind of unfortunate loss is in some ways our own fault - for example, we all want bigger houses > so the price goes up > we all want more wages now so we can afford bigger houses > the companies we work for make less money > they move abroad where costs are lower... now, this is an EXTREMELY simplified model, but I think it shows what I am getting at.. another example is that we all moan about the price of petrol, yet many of us still insist on driving 4X4's that drink the stuff...etc..

HOWEVER, this is still very sad for the workers at the plant, I hope they all manage to find other jobs.

:duck:

 

The problem is things in the west midlands are already bleak for car workers because of Rover. Hopefully the MGF will start production again soon at Longbridge.

 

i can't help wondering whether this has something to do with the stifling french economy and the inducements there that the goverment will provide to get manufacture back on home soil.

 

A very valid point John. I heard that they are going to move some of the production to Slovakia after receiving grants. The cheaper labour costs are an added obvious attraction.

 

dev

they might try and off shore some of it but will have to keep most locally. the french mostly only buy french cars, where as in the UK it's mostly anything but

 

They have made a commercial decision which is fine. However, its about time that companies who make decisions out of greed, pay for it. The laws should force companies to pay the redundant workers a good payoff rather than a pitance which is what most receive.

I have resisted the urge to rant about our dear European cousins.

Rod

 

Why rant about just the European cousins? Peugeot aren't doing anything more than what Vauxhall and Ford have done. Whether we like to believe it or not, it is easier to lay off workers in the the UK than France or Germany, although things are changing fast there as well. The price of a global economy?

 

Perhaps we should have similar laws to France regarding redundancy payments.

 

On the other hand Nissan reckon their Sunerland plant is the best car factory in the entire world, so if they are right the UK still has a lot to offer.

At this moment on time I am really sad of the loss of Rover has they did make sure we had some kind of car industry.

At the moment me live in a world were the brits have showed the japs and germans how to build cars but have nothing to show for it apart form a few old rusty british made Honda Civics.

 

What are you trying to say there I thought the Germans and Japanese showed us how to build cars?

There was an interesting programme on the other day about the 70's and it had a large piece on 'Red Robbo'. Look him up and see who really killed the UK car industry. C4 news had a nice item on the bankrupt US car makers who as part of a union agreement are paying workers full salary to go in the gates of the factory turn right and spend all day sitting around doing nothing. The only reson the US car makers aren't going into administration is they're worried customers won't buy cars from a bankrupt company.

Meanwhile the Asian manufactureres are selling huge numbers of cars, built in the US.

As for the global economy, how many threads have there been on here about bypassing the 'middleman' and getting cheap stufff direct from China. No one would have been able to do it easily even 3-4 years ago. Is that a bad thing?

 

The germans had little car industry and then a small company called BMW started making Austin 7's under licence. Austin showed BMW how to build cars.

We showed the Japeneese how to build cars after WW2 but they quickly ended up building cars better than us.

Of course the japs needed us again in the early 80's because Honda's were too dire for British tastes, the idea was that Rover would show the japs how to make cars more appealing to the wes t and the japs would show us how to make cars which started in the morning.

A lot of people say if BMW didn't make use of the people at Rover the 1 series and x5 could never have existed because BMW did not know how to make off roaders or front wheel drive cars.

 

The 1 series is RWD, so Rover didn't have to teach BMW anything there.

 

AT, I really think you ought to check your facts a little, particularly about the "little car industry" that Germans had.

Did anyone see a programme on BBC presented by Jeremy Clarkson about the decline of the British car industry?, which blamed Maggie Thatcher, Red Robbo, BMW and everyone else involved with the car industry for the decline. It also showed how BMW simply could not make the Rover management and unions fall in line (unless I'm mistaken).

Another interesting thing I noted was how MG management paid themselves higher wages than BMW Management despite the economic states of the two companies. Talk about priorities .

 

I have this image now of the Japanese Honda people sitting round the table in their 1970's evil lair (under a volcano of course). As the smuggled pictures of the new 'Metro', 'Maestro' and 'Montego' rotate infront of them in 3D.

One man raises his arm and the room goes quiet he says

"We must have this company at whatever cost", "they could teach us so much"

I haven't seen the Clarkson programme did it mention anything about the Japanese being miffed Rover was sold to the Germans. I've read that Honda thought they had an informal deal for first dibbs if Rover was ever sold. Supposedly their large investment in the Swindon factory was partly a we'll show you gesture due to being 'slighted'.

Which company is still there?

Didn't Karl Benz 'invent' the motor car in which case the Austin 7 was a knockoff of a German idea?

 

Yes, I remember Honda being a little miffed and Karl Benz has indeed been credited with the invention of the motor car, although I've read that some French people are disputing this.

 

Talking of French cars, I get this picture of the inside of a UK ad agency presented with a certain French car to advertise....


"Sh-i-i-t, that's ugly. How the f-ck are we going to sell that?"


"Hmmm..."


...


"Hey, I've got an idea... Why not make the car's butt ugliness into its main feature? The punters will follow like sheep anyway."


...


...



"I see you baby. Shaking that ass ..."





It's just me then, is it? I'll get my coat.
Steve

 

The Germans may have invented it, the Americans mass produced it and the Brits produced some of the best cars in the world for a long long time.

 

which ones were those then