I see the greedy, self serving commercial system is well and truly well reflected in the car industry. Mr Ghosn who runs Renault/Nissan wants the UK tax payer to stump up for any loss of sales to the EU due to tariffs. What unbelievable arrogance. How could one quantify a sales loss anyway? Nissan sales have been falling heavily in Europe all through 2016 and that's just because less people want his cars. Is he trying to put the blame elsewhere? Change is part of business so deal with it Carlos.
I also see UK journalism's 'smoke & mirrors' tactics at work on the subject. A headline at The Guardian website said "some EU customers are boycotting UK cars". The article then almost straight away said "Jaguar Land Rover has said some customers in Europe may be boycotting British cars following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union". Sensationalist rubbish! I hope when you read headlines, note if the article backs up the bold title. I call it willful deception.
If there is anti UK sentiment affecting car sales in Europe, then European car brands can rest easy that there won't be retaliation. The British don't have a national sense of purpose or loyalty anyway. With something like only 14% of UK car sales for locally made products - despite several car producers - confirms that. Many UK car buyers proudly buy European brands and loudly proclaim that. Which begs the question does Britain deserve a car industry?
Nissan have threatened not to invest in future models in the UK. That will hurt factory profitability and Nissan. Duh. JLR would “realign its thinking” on investment after Brexit and possible compensation to Nissan would have to be for all car makers. JLR has already moved away from Britain, with factories to be used in Austria and Slovakia for future models. JLR's investment in the UK was going to be limited in future anyway.
Summary: The media circus revs up the whole situation and car makers feed it with their appalling comments. Talk privately to those who need to know but going public with inflammatory statements is pathetic. It also seems that some car makers are queuing up for tax payer handouts. I don't want any part of this nonsense. I now feel bad writing about and promoting an industry like this. Time to move on.
I also see UK journalism's 'smoke & mirrors' tactics at work on the subject. A headline at The Guardian website said "some EU customers are boycotting UK cars". The article then almost straight away said "Jaguar Land Rover has said some customers in Europe may be boycotting British cars following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union". Sensationalist rubbish! I hope when you read headlines, note if the article backs up the bold title. I call it willful deception.
If there is anti UK sentiment affecting car sales in Europe, then European car brands can rest easy that there won't be retaliation. The British don't have a national sense of purpose or loyalty anyway. With something like only 14% of UK car sales for locally made products - despite several car producers - confirms that. Many UK car buyers proudly buy European brands and loudly proclaim that. Which begs the question does Britain deserve a car industry?
Nissan have threatened not to invest in future models in the UK. That will hurt factory profitability and Nissan. Duh. JLR would “realign its thinking” on investment after Brexit and possible compensation to Nissan would have to be for all car makers. JLR has already moved away from Britain, with factories to be used in Austria and Slovakia for future models. JLR's investment in the UK was going to be limited in future anyway.
Summary: The media circus revs up the whole situation and car makers feed it with their appalling comments. Talk privately to those who need to know but going public with inflammatory statements is pathetic. It also seems that some car makers are queuing up for tax payer handouts. I don't want any part of this nonsense. I now feel bad writing about and promoting an industry like this. Time to move on.
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