Car Industry layoffs

[rov1200]

Honda cars made in Britain have been given a 4 month layoff because of falling sales.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7859863.st m

In France and Germany the motorist has been a massive trade in price old their old vehicle to buy a new greener car. Mandellson's scheme only helps motor manufacturers in research and therefore a plan for the future.

Should the UK fall in line with Germany and France by offering a similar scheme so keeping British car workers in employment?

[jake-the-peg]

Different countries are targeting help in different ways to different sections of their economies.

France and Germany have much more significant car manufactuting industries. Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, BMW, Audi, VW etc. etc.

So it makes sense for those countries to strongly target them.

Personally I think the Liberal Democrats have the right idea that, we have a lot of slack in the building trade, cheaper land and a problem with affordable houses and we should be engaging on a program of building.

But this is a new type of recession, unlike the old 80's ones where old industries were dying off so nobody's exactly sure what the best approach is.

Just as long as it's not sitting on your hands, doing nothing and talking about market forces.

[123everton]

The French have got the hump about something (again) as they've gone out on an almost national strike.
I feel no need or clamour for that here, and I'm a dyed in the wool trade unionist.

[matty2670]

Call me naive, but wouldn't the car manufacturers sell more cars if they weren't so massively overpriced in the first place? I appreciate this would depress prices of second hand cars, but again, wouldn't that just suit everyone, as ultimately even folks on lower incomes would be driving newer, greener cars? Don't the major manufacturers have fields full of unsold motors, quietly rusting away..?

[anotheoldgit]

Our politicians only like to introduce EU measures that are detrimental to the UK, not ones that are advantageous.

[spacechimp]

Why should we build more houses? We've got a massive number of houses, just not based around London--i.e. not catered to the British economy being propped up by the City of London, which has served us so well.

[rov1200]

The problem is that the government has just put over �2 billon into the motor industry. This will not help the current workers as it addresses the future situation. Although we have a declining motor industry there are other plants in the UK besides Honda notably Nissan in the NE. There are 1,000,000 workers employed in the UK motor industry so there will be a knock on effect. A Honda person when asked whether the plant will continue he said he doubted it.

[gucciman]

this country has been living on nothing but credit for the last 20 years, successive governments have done nothing to stop british industry dying so we create no wealth and now the chickens are coming home to roost.

i have a problem with the government bailing out the car industry in that if they are going to help 1 industry survive then they should help all industries survive or none of them at all.

[rov1200]

I quite agree AOG all Brown talks about is the prevention of protectionism in the UK. But while uttering these platitudes all around us countries are putting up barriers to protect their own industries. The USA have already allocated $billions. We should worry about our own country!

[birdie1971]

Gucciman � I couldn't agree more. I've been saying this for years � you cannot run an economy on service based industries.

The only way an economy can sustainably make money is to manufacture goods that other people want to buy.

India and China understand this.

Amazingly, British Governments for the last two decades haven't seen this simple fact. Both Labour and Conservative Governments have decimated our manufacturing industries.

What we are seeing now is the result.

I know the whole world is in recession too. But other countries with the capacity, infrastructure and political will are much better placed to ride the storm.

If people in Britain think it's hard now, just wait another 12 months.

A depression is looming.


I'm not a religious man, but God help us.