Ford Europe - No one's fighting their corner...

[TStag]

Interesting point made by Autocar: http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/autocarconf...-home-team.aspx

[blksn8k2]

I would guess the reason Ford doesn't build cars in Britain is the same reason there are few true British makes remaining. If you cannot build a quality product at a profit you go somewhere that you can.

[ausrutherford]

I would guess the reason Ford doesn't build cars in Britain is the same reason there are few true British makes remaining. If you cannot build a quality product at a profit you go somewhere that you can.

 

Ford still makes the transit there.

[Edstock]

I would guess the reason Ford doesn't build cars in Britain is the same reason there are few true British makes remaining. If you cannot build a quality product at a profit you go somewhere that you can.

If you've never seen it, get a copy of Peter Sellers' "I'm All Right, Jack". Wonderfully funny look at UK labor lunacy.

 

It may be apocryphal, but I recall reading how the factory management at Dagenham discovered that the workers had moved giant wooden packing crates, creating an invisible "room", with bunks and electricity, for brewing a cuppa and lights.

[Surgen]

Ford still makes the transit there.

 

You must be mistaking Britain for Turkey.

[jpd80]

You must be mistaking Britain for Turkey.

No, that's the Transit Connect.

I believe the Transit is still built at Southampton.

[Ford Jellymoulds]

No, that's the Transit Connect.

I believe the Transit is still built at Southampton.

 

FORDS TURKISH FUTURE

"In all, Turkey has grown in a relatively short period of time to become a major centre for automotive manufacturing and design. For Ford Motor, Turkey is another key to global success."

 

This observation will do much to add to the anxiety already felt in Swaythling where staff claim they have been told that production will be cut from 80,000 Ford Transits a year to just 35,000.

 

Moreover, many workers have told the Echo they think the extra work will go to Turkey where labour costs and overheads are cheaper.

 

The memo leaked to the Echo stated that the company had found a "number of economic and operating factors which make it very difficult to achieve a high level of investment in Southampton that would enable us to continue at current volume levels".

 

Opened in 2001 the Kocaeli plant in Turkey currently produces more than 200,000 Transits and the lighter Transit Connects a year.

 

Southampton workers fear that the operation in Turkey will start to focus its efforts on the traditional Transit when work on the new Transit begins in 2010 with worrying implications for the Southampton plant.

 

Meanwhile Ford confirmed to the Daily Echo that its recently opened Craiova plant in Romania will start producing Transit Connects in 2009 which could theoretically be used to free up room at the $650m Turkish facility

 

The Transit is also made at the Genk plant in Belgium and it was a strike there that brought the Southampton facility to a standstill in 2003 when Swaythling could not get essential parts delivered.

SOUTHAMTON ECHO LINK

Southamton Transit plant has been the backbone of Europe since the mid 60's where the van was first conceived it will be a shame to see it go, they used to produce the Spitfire their during WW2.

 

Britain is like the US it has the most easy to hire & fire laws in Europe, so anything Ford of Britain produce looks like a soft target to get moved to cheap & chearful location like Turkey.

 

Most of Britains manufacturing base has disappeared under Thatcher & Blair governments due them signing up to parts of EU Laws that can be used to shaft hire & fire the British workforce with, whist Germany & France went the complete opposite way picking all the parts of employment laws that would protect the French & German Worker. You can sack a UK car worker with 20 years service for as little as $7,000 but a French/German worker will cost a company like Ford $158,000 plus Ford would also be liable to meet the full costs retraining the German worker to learn a new skill to do something other than car making as a career which could take years.

 

Peugeot used to build 500,000 206's in the UK but closed down its UK plant under the Blair government & moved it to a lower cost base, the main reason it was easy to hire and fire a Brit under new EU rules Blairs government had made introduced to shaft the British worker it all back fired the wrong way on his government. Germany still has the highest paid workforce in the world and is the hardest to get rid of in the world.

 

GM are the latest company that might see their already sinking sales disappear to almost zero in the UK in the same way as Peugeot did when they stopped production of the 206 here, as they try to shut down all its British plants because we easy to hire and fire, Britains biggest unions are planning a massive boycott GM cars.

 

 

 

UNION BOYCOTT OF GOVERNMENT MOTORS PRODUCTS

 

Amicus General Secretary, Derek Simpson will today warn Vauxhall Motors that if it makes significant redundancies or closes Ellesmere Port the union will end its £8 million contract for Vauxhall and the union will source its car fleet from a Japanese manufacturer which employs Amicus members in the UK. The union will also encourage its one million members and their families not to buy cars from GM and to support a car manufacturer that supports UK jobs. The union will also call on other unions across the UK to encourage their members and their members families to do the same.The union will be arranging meetings with Japanese manufacturers and others who support UK jobs, to seek potential discounts through affinity deals for our members.

 

"Weak UK labour laws our being exploited by employers. The Government must take action to protect British manufacturing employment. Job protection similar to those enjoyed by workers in France would give British employees the opportunity to compete for investment and work." On Average in France it costs £100, 000 to make a French worker redundant. In Britain the maximum allowed for statutory redundancy is £ 5000 for 20 years service.

LINK

Edited May 26, 2009 by Ford Jellymoulds

[Ford Jellymoulds]

If you've never seen it, get a copy of Peter Sellers' "I'm All Right, Jack". Wonderfully funny look at UK labor lunacy.

 

It may be apocryphal, but I recall reading how the factory management at Dagenham discovered that the workers had moved giant wooden packing crates, creating an invisible "room", with bunks and electricity, for brewing a cuppa and lights.

 

British Leyland and Ford used to both be out on strike at the time gotta say it was not quite as bad the film portrayed but not far off it.

 

Funny thing though Ford of Britain used to produce the Capri, Cortina & Escort RHD cars for the UK the rest of the world, Ford of Germany used to produce the Capri Taunus & Escort RHD cars for the rest of Europe, who sold built the most cars Ford of Britain did.

 

Brits & Germans never used to buy each others cars after the WW2 but Ford banged their heads together in 1967 and formed Ford of Europe, still something GM have not fixed today. Thatcher & Blair both signed up to all the EU employment laws that could be used to shaft the British worker & omitted a lot of the laws that would have helped protect us, Germany & France went 100% the other way signing up to all the laws that would make it very hard near damm impossible to because the cost would be prohibitively expensive to do so.

 

Today Ford of Britain produces ZERO cars despite Brits are the biggest buyer of Ford cars in Europe, Germany in contrast has the highest paid workforce in the world, they are the most expensive place to build cars anywhere in the world, and Ford of Gemany still have the lions share of Fords car making in Europe.

 

Still we can't grumble we still make engines at Bridgend & Dagenham, low volume Transit production that looks set to go in 2012 to cheap and chearful Turkey, and folk that used to build the Capri and Escorts in Liverpool now assemble Jags for T-Stag.

 

A Ford engine will be as good as it gets in the UK from Ford in the future despite Brits buying the most cars from Ford of Europe.

Edited May 26, 2009 by Ford Jellymoulds

[Ford Jellymoulds]

I would guess the reason Ford doesn't build cars in Britain is the same reason there are few true British makes remaining. If you cannot build a quality product at a profit you go somewhere that you can.

 

Yea build the Fiesta & Focus in Germany the most expensive place to build cars in the world with next to no profit.

 

Rubbish Toyota, Honda & Nissan all build cars in the UK they have a reputation being the most efficient plants turning out cars of the highest quality anywhere in Europe at the moment thats why they chose to build here, and we still have Rolls Royce Aero Engines that still bring billions into the UK economy.

 

One thing that has done more damage than anything to the UK manufaucting base is Thatcher & Blairs of this world made it very easy to hire and fire as the whole world looks to move its manufacturing base to China & India the British worker was first in line to get shot as Blair & Thatcher cherry picked only the parts of the EU employment laws that they could use to shaft British workers, we have had a lot firing and not a lot of much hiring. Nearly all of our manufacturing base got destroyed disappeared under under the reign of Thatcher & Blair whist they were in power.

 

Germany/France on the other hand chose pick all EU Employment laws that would protect German/French jobs making it almost impossible to get rid of their jobs & industry.

 

Ford of Germany employ the most expensive workforce in the world to build its cars, you just try to shut a German plant down you are are talking lots of billions to do so, with money Ford has not got to waste it will always take the cheaper easy option not bother they German have some of toughest costliest employee EU protection laws in the world to pay for, in comparison you can shut a Transit plant down for peanuts and move it to a cheap and chearful location like Turkey with next to no problems and very little costs, maybe they need Thatcher & Blair in Germany to adopt all the EU employee laws that shaft the German workforce & their industry and send all the German Fiesta & Focus lines to low cost Turkey and put all the German workforce on the dole the Blair Thatcher way...

LINK

Edited May 26, 2009 by Ford Jellymoulds

[TStag]

I just thought that the interesting point made in the article is that whilst Germany rushes to rescue Opel and the French their domestics, Ford has no one in Europe to turn to should the need ever arise. Now if Ford relocated the bulk of production to France or Germany or the UK they would almost be guaranteed bailout bucks should the need ever arise.

 

Not saying the author is right or wrong, but it makes for an interesting viewpoint.

[TomServo92]

I just thought that the interesting point made in the article is that whilst Germany rushes to rescue Opel and the French their domestics, Ford has no one in Europe to turn to should the need ever arise. Now if Ford relocated the bulk of production to France or Germany or the UK they would almost be guaranteed bailout bucks should the need ever arise.

 

Not saying the author is right or wrong, but it makes for an interesting viewpoint.

 

While Ford doesn't have one specific country tied to them like Opel or Renault, every country in which they have a major manufacturing operation should be concerned about losing those jobs and revenue. If circumstances made it necessary, I suspect Ford could ask each country to pony up some money that is commensurate with the size of the operation.

[jpd80]

I just thought that the interesting point made in the article is that whilst Germany rushes to rescue Opel and the French their domestics, Ford has no one in Europe to turn to should the need ever arise. Now if Ford relocated the bulk of production to France or Germany or the UK they would almost be guaranteed bailout bucks should the need ever arise.

 

Not saying the author is right or wrong, but it makes for an interesting viewpoint.

Feeling left out of the EU boys club are we?

 

UK governments have lacked the understanding needed to foster a car industry and I think that

Ford would have moved production back there if the governments were truly interested.

[Ford Jellymoulds]

If car making in Europe was like a chess game Ford has gotta lot of its cars out of place the Mondeo being the worse placed, why build it in Belgium you might a well build it in Barbados it's such a small country its not worth bothering with. It would be the one car that should be Made in Germany to attack BMW Series sales give the Germans a Ford Camry to buy they like big fast cars for cruising the autobahns, why make it Belgium it gives the 80 million Germans a good reason to stay in a BMW 3 Series, why Belgium hardly nobody lives there who are Ford pandering to by building cars there?

 

One car shape black hole Ford has missing from its line-up in Europe is Europes No1 best selling car the Golf, lots of other companies have it Pug 308 etc Ford don't why not? It's another car that should be built in Germany to attack the Golf thats totally missing from Fords line-up.

 

 

Toyota let the French build the Yaris as France is ecnobox capital of the world hoping they might break into the market, gotta say they are totally wasting their time, they would have been better building it in Barbados as well because the French would have brought just about a many cars from the Barbadians almost close to zero. Fiesta & Ka would fit the French like a glove, only trouble is next to nobody would buy them there, the French are to volatile as well.

 

If the Japanese ever tried to pull the plug on French Yaris they would almost impossible to get back, a bit like Dennis throwing a ball in Mr Wilson garden. Just like Germans the French are almost impposible to sack get rid of because of their stong EU employmee laws they have, it would cost Toyota billions in redundancy payments and would also be burdened with the full cost of retraining the whole workforce to to something else other than build cars. Fiesta & Ka would be best made somewhere like Russia with a population of 141 million and a huge market that opening, or a country like the Czech Republic who car build quality at the moment is second to none in the world they make a Lexus look second rate and the workforce are cheap, or even Turkey as small cars have low profit margins.

 

 

UK would be well suited to make something thats a bit risky like the Kuga or another black hole in Fords line-up a sports car Capri/Mustang or even the Ranger that nobody buys in Europe, the UK costs are bit on the higher side but nowhere near as expensive as Germany that is the most expensive place to build cars in the world, if market conditions changed $147 oil or more again or legislation turned agaist SUV, sports cars and pick-ups the easy hire & fire total lack of any EU employee protection legislation would make it very easy to pull the plug on production with not a lot of costs involved compared to billions that would have to be paid making a French or German workforce redundant. But there are other ex eastern block countries with no expensive employee protection laws in place that offer cheaper labor costs than the UK, but the UK are the biggest buyers of Ford cars in Europe.

 

Honda, Toyota and Nissan build cars in the UK like the Corrola & Avensis and many other cars hoping to attack Mondeo sales etc here and break the Ford/GM dominance of the UK market which US car makers biggest marketplace in Europe, and just like a queen on the chess board they will move out of Britain faster than any other peice on the board just like Fords car making Queen already has knowing it will cost them next to nothing to pull out of the UK to do so.

Edited May 27, 2009 by Ford Jellymoulds