delboy
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Post by delboy on Feb 19, 2019 8:17:00 GMT
Honda European Vice President R4 Today Programme:
The European market is simply not viable for us to have a plant like Swindon anywhere in Europe, when compared to Asian and US markets. This has nothing to do with Brexit. Our focus must unfortunately be elsewhere.
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registerme
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Post by registerme on Feb 19, 2019 8:35:47 GMT
Yup, I listened to that piece and was going to report the same thing. I'm paraphrasing, but when asked "had the UK stayed in the EU would Honda's decision have been different" the answer was "no".
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Post by bracknellboy on Feb 19, 2019 9:12:28 GMT
Yep, Honda's European market is minor compared with its US / Asia market (why that is the case is more of a mystery). The argument that acceleration of electrification and the necessary new investment is driving them to focus manufacturing closer to their larger markets makes sense.
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cb25
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Post by cb25 on Feb 19, 2019 10:04:52 GMT
You can either argue that each of the decisions to relocate some or all production or resources out of the UK - Sony, Panasonic, Nissan, Honda, BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Unilever, Schaeffler, etc etc - is not necessarily or even mostly related to Brexit. Or you can put it together and see a pattern. Or you can blame things on Brexit that aren't related to Brexit.
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delboy
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Post by delboy on Feb 19, 2019 10:13:53 GMT
Yup, I listened to that piece and was going to report the same thing. I'm paraphrasing, but when asked "had the UK stayed in the EU would Honda's decision have been different" the answer was "no". Yet still the BBC continue to report that it was in some way "partly" down to Brexit. It has been categorically stated that Brexit was not a contributory factor in this decision, but I guess that doesn't fit the agenda.
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Post by bracknellboy on Feb 19, 2019 10:28:02 GMT
Yup, I listened to that piece and was going to report the same thing. I'm paraphrasing, but when asked "had the UK stayed in the EU would Honda's decision have been different" the answer was "no". Yet still the BBC continue to report that it was in some way "partly" down to Brexit. It has been categorically stated that Brexit was not a contributory factor in this decision, but I guess that doesn't fit the agenda. maybe on the Radio ?? Online its current news feature doesn't:
The only mention of Brexit in here is in the "not to do with" category.
Its historic reports from yesterday may still have the quotes which mention it, but that would be valid as the reports are historic and the quotes were made.
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delboy
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Post by delboy on Feb 19, 2019 11:05:52 GMT
Yet still the BBC continue to report that it was in some way "partly" down to Brexit. It has been categorically stated that Brexit was not a contributory factor in this decision, but I guess that doesn't fit the agenda. maybe on the Radio ?? Online its current news feature doesn't:
The only mention of Brexit in here is in the "not to do with" category.
Its historic reports from yesterday may still have the quotes which mention it, but that would be valid as the reports are historic and the quotes were made.
You're quite right, my bad. It is Simon Jack's article from yesterday which cites Brexit as a factor (several times). That said, it remains linked to the front page beneath the headline story. Still worthy of note that before Honda had confirmed anything at all, the BBC were quick to point the finger at Brexit in quite a big way.
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Post by mrclondon on Feb 19, 2019 11:13:49 GMT
I spent my entire career working for foreign owned multi-national manufacturers, either as an employee or as a consultant. A different industry sector (chemicals / pharma / bio-pharma ) and not as tightly integrated into pan EU supply chains as vehicle / aerospace manufacturers are.
Nevertheless I was astounded as a naive graduate in the 1980's with the ease and frequency with which my first employer bought / sold / opened / closed manufacturing facilities across the globe. Virtually every weekly corporate news bulletin contained such news. It would not take long for me to realise that the UK was not protected from such activity, nor that they were prepared to write off quite recent large investments with ease.
All the manufacturig facilities I worked on in the first 3/4 of my career have now closed, many for decades now. The rationale in almost all cases was that demographic changes in the far east meant that those markets were becoming significantly more important, and it made beter sense to have larger sites in the far east supply worldwide demand. (I suspect that the significant increase in container shipping capacity over the last 40 years has also played a role here.)
I've struggled for years to see a long term future for manufacturing operations in Europe that necessitate employing hundreds or indeed thousands of staff at a single site. And yet, manufacturing is an important value add creator of wealth in an economy. As I've bored people with on another thread, I'm firmly of the belief SME manufacturers are going to be increasingly important to the UK economy, and the geo-political positioning of the UK needs to take into account the needs of SME's as well as the multi-nationals. IMO Hammond/Greg are still too focussed on the few not the many.
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m2btj
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Post by m2btj on Feb 19, 2019 14:54:49 GMT
I'd like to see the UK become far more involved in the development of new generation vehicles & technologies. We have the plant, we have the capacity, we have skilled labour & we have know how.
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Post by mrclondon on Feb 19, 2019 15:31:04 GMT
I'd like to see the UK become far more involved in the development of new generation vehicles & technologies. We have the plant, we have the capacity, we have skilled labour & we have know how. Absolutely. The fact we are at the centre of the Formula 1 "industry" shows the capability exists.
But we are hampered IMO with a geo-political framework that makes state assistance during scale up ("enablers" or nudges in the right direction) difficult. I don't agree with JC/JM on much, but the restrictions on state aid are a barrier the economy could do without. (Personally I think McDonnell is a much cleverer cookie than many give him credit for, and the rhetoric on nationalisation is just that, rhetoric, but allows them to sweep up the hard left vote). The delays to the new TVR factory in south Wales are being blamed in large part on issues surrounding state aid. Its the long running depressing story that British (& NI) inventions generally get developed abroad at a commercial scale.
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cb25
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Post by cb25 on Feb 19, 2019 16:08:48 GMT
I'd like to see the UK become far more involved in the development of new generation vehicles & technologies. We have the plant, we have the capacity, we have skilled labour & we have know how. But we are hampered IMO with a geo-political framework that makes state assistance during scale up ("enablers" or nudges in the right direction) difficult. I don't agree with JC/JM on much, but the restrictions on state aid are a barrier the economy could do without.
Given we have one of the biggest financial systems in the world and plentiful venture capital, I can see no reason for the state to get involved in start-ups, especially as they have no expertise in risk assessment or picking the winners of the future.
As to "I think McDonnell is a much cleverer cookie than many give him credit for, and the rhetoric on nationalisation is just that, rhetoric, but allows them to sweep up the hard left vote" - I think McDonnell is at least as hard-left as his comments suggest, rather than simply being a ploy to reel in hard-left supporters.
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copacetic
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Post by copacetic on Feb 19, 2019 20:20:39 GMT
This is my main concern with Brexit. Stick with protectionism and lose the long term economic benefits of free trade. The fact that food prices are artifically inflated by tariffs impacts every other part of the economy as wages need to be higher to compensate. By all means the government should keep tariffs for industries that employ a lot of people ... for a little while, but they should also commit to gradually reducing them to zero to allow the economy to redistribute output to efficient sectors.
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registerme
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Post by registerme on Feb 19, 2019 23:28:55 GMT
This is my main concern with Brexit. Stick with protectionism and lose the long term economic benefits of free trade. The fact that food prices are artifically inflated by tariffs impacts every other part of the economy as wages need to be higher to compensate. By all means the government should keep tariffs for industries that employ a lot of people ... for a little while, but they should also commit to gradually reducing them to zero to allow the economy to redistribute output to efficient sectors.
That really is the Corn Laws all over again.
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cb25
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Post by cb25 on Feb 20, 2019 11:23:21 GMT
If the new Group will take Anna Soubry I'll consider giving them a donation Take her where? "Three Tory MPs have resigned from party over its "shift to the right". Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen wrote a joint letter to Theresa May to confirm their departure."
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registerme
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Post by registerme on Feb 20, 2019 11:23:59 GMT
I'm wondering whether TM will offer them the same bung the DUP got. What was it, £200m per MP?
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