Global Cars?

[geo]

Under another thread, Ashley comments:

Apparently not only are the big three making cars that their
customers don't want

It is only really making the headlines about the US because of the large number of people involved (either directly or indirectly) in automobile manufacture or distribution and is not solely the US manufacturers who are experiencing this in the US — did anyone see the BBC Newsnight piece and the enormous number of Mercedes units parked in dockyards at Long Island?

I was minded of the demise of MG Rover in 2005 — when Longbridge finally closed (all right, following SAIC’s takeover of Nanjing Auto some production has recommenced there which employs upwards of 100 workers), 6,200 workers were made redundant. If one thinks back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, when it could be argued that British manufacturing was not unlike the US today, all the parts of what was, or became, British Leyland accounted for 190,000 workers with a proportionate number of employees with Rootes, GM’s Vauxhall, Ford etc.: back then automobile manufacture and distribution was an enormous headache for the British government because of the sociological fall-out of it not continuing.

Things are not looking over-bright for most producers round the world at the moment. The enticing prospect of the cheap and cheerful Nano will not bear fruit unless Tata can find another location to manufacture it that is acceptable to the indigenous population (and, anyway, Ratan Tata has enough other problems with Land Rover/Jaguar, Chorus Steel and his leading Mumbai hotel!), Japanese manufacturers are hardly speaking of a flourishing industry, so possibly the Chinese who are still making a success of manufacturing BMWs, ‘Roewes’ and possibly about to buy Volvo might have realistic plans to remain major players, but not much else seems to bode well for the future. Goodness, even Porsche have made more money out of its ‘shorting’ positions on VW shares than making cars this year!

Strange old world out there, I wonder how the small specialist manufacturers like Bristol will fare?
George

[Ashley James]

I don't think there are any parallels between the American and
British Motor Industries, for most of it's life ours was years
behind in every way and several American manufacturers were making
better cars than Rolls-Royce at one time. However the war,
communists left behind in the factories when everyone else was
fighting, and the Post War Labour government probably knocked the
biggest nails in the coffin that had been our Motor Industry. We
weren't competitive with the Americans, but we were the world's
biggest exporter till 1955. Unfortunately they forced the car
companies to re-locate to areas of low employment and the transport
problems made us less competitive still. To add to that the unions
became more and more troublesome and made our cars less reliable and
even less competitive. By the late sixties both Lord Stokes and
Michael Edwardes had told Harold Wilson they needed to make 50,000
redundant to save BL. Wilson would not allow a single one because he
was owned by the unions and terrified of them.

Britain had exported over a million cars by 1950 and BAC had made
about 500 cars of which some were exported.

I don't know much about the American situation, but get the impression
that the US Giants are ploughing their own furrow and perhaps ignoring
the inroads into their market made by foreign invaders.

Ash