Another British car maker in administration

[bodgit]

I remember Clarkson saying on top gear a while back something like
"in 1968 we only imported 63 cars yes just 63".
Now another British maker Bristol (who would not let top gear have any of their cars for testing) who make the 225mph Bristol Fighter are about to go under.
Is there anything left in this country that is home made ? Looking around my house today apart from the building itself most things are foriegn made.
http://cars.uk.msn.com/features/phot...ntid=156369141

[SlowOne]

Home made...

Ford was owned by Ford of America. Vauxhall was owned by General Motors. Rootes Group was owned by Chrysler. For many years Ford owned Jaguar and Aston Martin. British Leyland, then Rover, was propped up by making variations of Honda models all designed, and their build lines installed by, Honda technicians. And all this has been going on since the 1970s. At which point did we have a home-made car industry since the 1950s?

Toyota make cars and engines in the UK, Honda and Nissan make cars. They export more cars now than Ford (who make no cars in the UK today) Vauxhall and Rootes combined in the 1970s. Set that against the likes of Bombardier, Messier Dowty, BAe, Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN who are all home-grown companies with a global reach leading their fields - made in Britain. Every smart 'phone as a British designed chip in it, and our motor racing companies dominate every race series in the world with their engines, transmissions and chassis.

Yes, looking around you house might be depressing, but that's not what UK plc is about any more. We stopped being the factory of the world in the 1920s. Today we are the cottage industry of the World, with very few people able to do what we do in the sort of markets described above.

Since the Thatcher Government of 1979, this country has been set on a path that allows service and financial industries to power the economy. As a result, all our utilities are owned by foreign companies, most of our financial institutions likewise, and large chunks of our infrastructure too. We have elected Governments that deliberately follow of policy of ensuring it is not-home-made. And that's worked out so well hasn't it??!!!

Losing Bristol is no surprise, and it has happened before. To me it is less sad than inevitable. There's precious little left that is made here compared to 40 years ago, but that's what we voted for and that's what we got. I'm glad we still have what we have, but I am under no illusion that anything will change while people buy with their wallets and vote with the masses. But I'd still rather live here than anywhere else in the World. It's life...

[DCM]

Well, I don't think it was a political whim, the British Layland period was beset by strikes and 'work to rule' and basically they went from excellence to dross very fast, with everything that went on, and the same could be said by a lot of engineering. The Unions wouldn't allow the companies to streamline and develop to keep with the imports, so, in effect, shot themselves in the foot, made themselves lame and died. Yes, the Government didn't help, but nor did they help themselves.

[Welshy40]

Unions ruined this country and is the very reason why companies have the work done abroad as the unions dont exist. Great news for the companies and great that the idiots who started the strikes are now jobless and i am happy for that. They ruined the uk manufacturing. Bristol relyed on the real rich to buy but didnt think ahead and design a cheaper product. They werent that good anyway so quite surprised they lasted that long. They only had one dealer in london and only let in certain clientel so no sympathies.

[TheReferee]

Originally Posted by Welshy40

Unions ruined this country and is the very reason why companies have the work done abroad as the unions dont exist. Great news for the companies and great that the idiots who started the strikes are now jobless and i am happy for that. They ruined the uk manufacturing. Bristol relyed on the real rich to buy but didnt think ahead and design a cheaper product. They werent that good anyway so quite surprised they lasted that long. They only had one dealer in london and only let in certain clientel so no sympathies.

of course prior to unions workers rights were proteted by what?, minimum wage, a safe work place, unscrupulous employers didn't exist of course and always had the care of the workforce at heart. companies go overseas because labour cost are cheaper and there is less regulation. children sewing footballs together comes to mind, profit comes first for companies and your health and well being come a long way down the list, lets be honest companies do what is legally required of them towards the workforce and no more.

[chrispattinson]

I'd like to echo "Slowones" thoughts.

The british motor industry is booming.

I work within the industry for a Nissan tier 1 supplier. The OEMs might not be british in name, but the Tier N suppliers and the assembly plants in this country are having a very good start to 2011.

[Rebelrc]

Our world leading ship building went that way as well.
Lots of strikes
But we still make nuclear subs at barrow-in-Furness yay.....it's not enough though is it?

[Bagman]

I would say that other countries have unions and higher wages. Germany and Japan stand out a bit there. France is about the same, Volvo haven't done too badly in Sweden. All of these countries have a much higher level of government support of unions and similar or higher labour costs. Britain often made a decent car, sometimes with great ideas and potentially ground breaking advances (they also had a fair share of dogs too). They released these cars and sat back, very little development and very little reinvestment in production technology. In the early and mid 90's I worked in Rover/Vauxhall/Ford/RR/Nissan and saw the different styles. Going into Rover was stepping back in time. It was pretty shocking from a production point of view in comparison with the others. This carried over into the staff attitude (not really a British thing as it was better in the other plants). It was always going to slowly die, it was written on the wall ever since BMW bailed. I don't want to use BMW as an example but their cars are mostly made in Bavaria (not cheap) in a factory I regularly drive past. The ongoing investments there are staggering. New halls (all crammed with solar panels on top), lots of disguised development cars on the local roads, an obvious air of professionalism and you can just see and feel the difference. It's not (just) the unions that killed our domestic car industry it's blinkered management that failed to constantly improve and and change to a different kind of motor industry. I'm in manufacturing and believe that it is dying off in the UK (there are still many good, successful firms out there but now there are fewer household names), it's not so much about salaries and cheaper labour costs abroad especially now with an exchange rate that should be a dream to an exporter. It's not about the unions now as the British unions are now in a much weaker position than most foreign countries. Production firms that don't have a logical investment policy will get left behind I won't mourn them as they deserve to go under and not get propped up.