A record number of people are at work in the UK as unemployment falls again

[Rupert_Baehr]

Lets make this clear-most cars assembled in the UK are not British,simply made here.Components are made elsewhere, profits repatriated,and control is external.It is easy to expand with unused capacity,impossible where production is 100 pc of potential.The Uk expanded because it was underutilised.

 

There are no British owned manufacturers of cars on a mass basis.

 

Does it matter who owns the factories which make the cars?

 

The revenue is received in the UK.

British workers are paid to make the cars.

The profits go (eventually) to the shareholders ... many of which are British individuals/institutions.

The British government receives taxes from the foreign-owned companies.

 

Is 'control' really external? Do the BOD/Management teams of the (foreign-owned) companies manufacturing cars in the UK not have any say in what goes on in those companies?

[LeMaquis]

....it is an interesting point that the UK is exporting more cars than it imported for the first time since 1976.

 

That could be because domestic demand is weak but overseas demand isn't because of stronger economies abroad where consumers have more money to spend than British consumers.

[T 42]

Please note I am in now way supporting the posters viewpoint because as you say more data is needed before you can come close to drawing any major conclusions, but it is an interesting point that the UK is exporting more cars than it imported for the first time since 1976.

 

And the major players are investing very heavily in expanding their factories and production lines here.

The UK employs some 200,000 people in direct vehicle manufacturing and another 750,000 in producing parts etc.

A growing motor manufacturing sector leads to a growing parts manufacture and a need for more locally produced steel, aluminium and other raw materials.

 

It was proved 30 years ago that if you create the right environment the manufacturers will set up and produce cars here rather than Germany. If you don't they will go elsewhere and take the jobs with them.

 

Ford had been in the UK from 1911 but pulled out of UK car manufacturing in 2002.

[JFKvsNixon]

That could be because domestic demand is weak but overseas demand isn't because of stronger economies abroad where consumers have more money to spend than British consumers.

 

Maybe, there could be lots of reason why the import/export relationship has changed and as I said without more data no real conclusions can be drawn, but it is a interesting stat that deserves more investigating.

[T 42]

That could be because domestic demand is weak but overseas demand isn't because of stronger economies abroad where consumers have more money to spend than British consumers.

 

But output is increasing as are UK based sales whilst exports are down.

[Rupert_Baehr]

Please note I am in now way supporting the posters viewpoint because as you say more data is needed before you can come close to drawing any major conclusions, but it is an interesting point that the UK is exporting more cars than it imported for the first time since 1976.

 

It's excellent news! - And it suggests that there are improvements ... but an improvement in one sector does not mean that the British economy is the strongest in Europe.

 

I hope to go to I/ITSEC 2012 (the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference) in early December. I went last year (when this forum and much of the UK news was filled with 'doom and gloom' about the state of British Industry.) I spoke to a number of British exhibitors who - although they said they were operating in a tough financial environment - were optimistic (and doing well.) I came away with a very much changed outlook.

 

Bad news travels fast - but good news often seems to be overlooked.

[LeMaquis]

Maybe, there could be lots of reason why the import/export relationship has changed and as I said without more data no real conclusions can be drawn, but it is a interesting stat that deserves more investigating.

 

According to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9267231/First-trade-surplus-in-cars-since-1976.html and http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/aug/26/jaguar-land-rover-exports-boom car exports went up strongest to non-EU countries because of the strength of the pound against the euro. The US and China were main importers.

[LeMaquis]

But output is increasing as are UK based sales whilst exports are down.

 

If car exports exceed domestic car sales for the first time since 1976 then that can't be because domestic sales are up and exports are down. It must be that exports have grown more quickly than domestic sales. Otherwise exports couldn't have overtaken doemstic sales.

[T 42]

According to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9267231/First-trade-surplus-in-cars-since-1976.html and http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/aug/26/jaguar-land-rover-exports-boom car exports went up strongest to non-EU countries because of the strength of the pound against the euro. The US and China were main importers.

 

I would agree with you up to a point, but the European market takes the vast majority of UK car exports. That market is flat or even falling. The far east is bouyant but the biggest growth has been the home market, and if sales there are at the expence of imports so much the better.

[AWOL]

"There are lies, damned lies and statistics. "