Tough time ahead for Ford Bridgend
Discussion
it was mentioned on the report.bmwmike said:
Due to brexit or was it inevitable. Seems mad to make engines anywhere other than right next to the place you need them.
They shut the transit plant in Southampton long before brexit because they could make them cheaper elsewhere (Turkey IIRC).Factory has been flattened in the last year, Ford still have a small facility there, the rest is being developed in to a small industrial estate
Ford is just about profit for the share holders and the fact it's easy to shut a U.K. Facility compared to a German one.
The Uk government has to seriously grow some balls and either tell companies like Ford that there will huge tax duties on products coming into the country if they decide to move out. The brexit move is just the latest excuse to say it's too expensive again. In 2002 the Dagenham car building plant stopped production because the value of the pound was too expensive compared to the euro and dollar making it hard to make a profit. That shut and Germany got the next Fiesta. German built cars are more expensive due to there work contracts but to make a German worker redundant the costs are huge. I can't quote figures as I can't get confirmation but in the uk a redundancy program is cheap by comparison.
Southampton shut as it was cheaper to build in turkey and ship back to the uk, supposedly?! The irony is the uk is the largest Ford vehicle buyer in Europe by far yet there is no actual Ford car making plant here now. Private and commercial vehicle sales in the uk are the equivalent of adding up the next top 4 sales markets Ford has. That's a prime opportunity for the uk government to step in. Bridgend makes petrol engine as Dagenham make diesel. Good engines go into Eastern European and Indian built Ford cars as those plants don't have the same quality build facilities yet! But are still sold at premium prices!
The Uk government has to seriously grow some balls and either tell companies like Ford that there will huge tax duties on products coming into the country if they decide to move out. The brexit move is just the latest excuse to say it's too expensive again. In 2002 the Dagenham car building plant stopped production because the value of the pound was too expensive compared to the euro and dollar making it hard to make a profit. That shut and Germany got the next Fiesta. German built cars are more expensive due to there work contracts but to make a German worker redundant the costs are huge. I can't quote figures as I can't get confirmation but in the uk a redundancy program is cheap by comparison.
Southampton shut as it was cheaper to build in turkey and ship back to the uk, supposedly?! The irony is the uk is the largest Ford vehicle buyer in Europe by far yet there is no actual Ford car making plant here now. Private and commercial vehicle sales in the uk are the equivalent of adding up the next top 4 sales markets Ford has. That's a prime opportunity for the uk government to step in. Bridgend makes petrol engine as Dagenham make diesel. Good engines go into Eastern European and Indian built Ford cars as those plants don't have the same quality build facilities yet! But are still sold at premium prices!
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