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UK auto body calls on Japanese automakers to ramp up investment

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The Japanese carmakers should start manufacturing EVs.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

"Britain, a key export hub to the European Union,...". Probably should have thought of that before they went and did something stupid.

7 ( +11 / -4 )

thedyinglightToday  05:36 pm JST

"Britain, a key export hub to the European Union,...". Probably should have thought of that before they went and did something stupid.

Ain’t that the truth. Sadly some wallets think they shouldn’t have to comply with EU regulations. They actually thought they could sell stuff in the EU that doesn’t comply with the EU. When you wanna trade with the US, Canada et al, gotta make sure you either meet those standards or higher.

UK begging for JP companies to come. Easier to set one up in Poland. Thankfully a new government might bring some economic,political stability.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Nissan Sunderland, Toyota Derby and Honda Swindon made a lot of sense when the Yen was high and the Pound low; and when Britain was in the EU.

With good reason Japanese manufacturers are repatriating car assembly so Mr Hawes will need to get a lot of subsidies out of Sir Keir just to keep the remaining two plants, let alone encourage expansion.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I'm afraid most countries just aren't interested in investing in a wasteland.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

No one can blame the Japanese car companies from being hesitant about investing in UK manufacturing. Better off to make cars in Germany, for example.

Brexit was the stupidest thing the UK could ever have done. It was the lower-class, lowly educated who voted for it - and they have permanently damaged the UK nations.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Fighto!Today  08:53 pm JST

No one can blame the Japanese car companies from being hesitant about investing in UK manufacturing. Better off to make cars in Germany, for example. 

Brexit was the stupidest thing the UK could ever have done. It was the lower-class, lowly educated who voted for it - and they have permanently damaged the UK nations.

totally. Although many educated people did too. Some might be soooo rich, eg Dison, weatherspoons, offshore financial people, politicians, that it didn’t matter to them they could take the hit. Many of the farmers, and fishermen (businessmen) and others thought they’d could control everything within their border, waters and farms, and thought they could still sell on the same terms to the EU with no changes, no paperwork, no checks. They thought of the benefits, and non of the down sides. Eg. stop other fishing boats coming to our waters, but didn’t consider this could be reciprocal. annoyed with eu immigration only to have the very same immigrants replaced from Africa, India.

The eu was one reason Nissan set up shop in the 1980s when Thatcher decimated a lot of production in favor of financial services.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Maybe Britain could reciprocate by opening some car factories in Japan.

You know like Jaguar, Mini, Range Rover etc.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

garymalmgren

Maybe Britain could reciprocate by opening some car factories in Japan.

> You know like Jaguar, Mini, Range Rover etc.

None of those are British-owned.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

None of those are British-owned.

Like Premier League teams

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

If you go to the British Motor Museum, you can see the LAST Honda vehicle made in the UK in 2021, with the signature of every person that worked on it.

Honda LEFT the UK after Brexit, because it no longer made sense to maintain a fabric in the UK for the whole of Europe, specially after Japan signed a treaty with the EU ending import tariffs, so, it became cheaper to just export cars from Japan to Europe than make them in the UK.

Not to mention, if you ever go to Malta or Cyprus, you are going to find that a big chunk of the cars in the streets are actually old used Japanese cars directly imported to the country (because those 2 countries are also Left-hand traffic)

So yeah...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

ROI, Return on Investment must be the key driver for any business to increase its investment in upgrading/modernizing is manufacturing plant.

If the outlook is not positive, additional investment will not take place.

EV's are not for everyone .

0 ( +0 / -0 )

garymalmgrenJuly 21  10:32 pm JST

Maybe Britain could reciprocate by opening some car factories in Japan.

You know like Jaguar, Mini, Range Rover etc.

Sadly! Now either German, Indian or Chinese.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Almost the entire UK car manufacturing sector is foreign-owned. Post-Brexit, UK manufacturing is toast: Sterling tanked, migrant labour cut off, markets cut off, new EU rules on % of components from the EU, electricity prices up. But no mention of Brexit in the article.

In the UK, early adopters have bought EVs/hybrids, but there isn't much desire beyond that, and won't be without massive subsidies for the cars, charging infrastructure (where possible) and electricity to run them.

The UK government has been paying companies to keep operating here, but that is the only thing that will do it. Ditto steel. And when they impose green levies for emissions, they then have to up the subsidies to stop the companies closing down and leaving.

Youngsters either get a second hand ICE runabout for under a grand or use a (not always legal) EV scooter to get about. Older/middle class drivers are sticking with their existing cars due to rampant inflation and artificially hiked interest rates.

LTN/ULEZ fees are pulling in a lot of cash for local authorities, but folk can just avoid the zones/cities when touring or buying property.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The UK government has been paying companies to keep operating here, but that is the only thing that will do it.

...and that is the gist of it. There really is no point in competing with EU, China, Thailand or US. There's no supply chain, a lot of parts has to be imported anyway. So unless Brits home brands resurrect supply chain as a national rejuvenation, why bother paying foreign company to assemble there.

Note, Thailand has an amazing auto supply chain, and even 'it' can't compete with 'no cost of capital' Chinese import. Chinese auto gets cheap or no cost capital, not afraid of loosing money because they can just offload the liabilities to local governments (google LGFV and how much bad debts there are).

IMHO, no foreign brand should invest further in UK until there's a 200% tariff on Chinese cars.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

wallaceJuly 21 11:37 pm JST

garymalmgren

Maybe Britain could reciprocate by opening some car factories in Japan.

You know like Jaguar, Mini, Range Rover etc.

None of those are British-owned.

Oh, my mistake there. Well how about good old MG then?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

MG Motor is an automotive brand owned by the Shanghai-based, state-owned carmaker SAIC Motor.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Pukey

I'm afraid most countries just aren't interested in investing in a wasteland.

I'm "afraid" you're wrong. Japan's Softbank was jumping with joy when they got hold of Cambridge-based ARM, one of the world's most cutting edge and influential IT player. The idiots who approved the sale were Tory remainers, Teresa May, etc., it should be mentioned.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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