Among British car factories, Nissan at Sunderland is the most productive and Jaguar Land Rover at Solihull probably the most advanced. As for industrial landmarks, the former British Leyland complex at Longbridge is reduced to a research and development facility for Chinese-owned MG; but ‘Plant Oxford’ at Cowley, the original home of Morris Motors now owned by BMW of Germany, still produces 1,000 Minis per day. And BMW’s decision to halt a £600 million project to build electric Minis there is, I fear, a moment of destiny for the whole UK auto industry.
The truth is that the transition to electric cars has descended into chaos. Total UK car production in 2024 was at its lowest (in non-pandemic conditions) since 1954. EVs are too expensive; charging infrastructure is too patchy; manufacturers plead that the current ‘zero-emission vehicle mandate’ (ZEV: 80 per cent of new cars must be electric by 2030, all by 2035) is too tight – though Ed Miliband would like it tighter.
Results are awaited from an industry consultation on how to make the ZEV more workable. But one thing’s for sure: ministerial diktat won’t shift consumer choices; non-urban motorists don’t want to drive electric. And British carmaking, for all its engineering prowess, is wholly dependent on investment decisions from Germany, France, India, Japan and the US, whose domestic markets face the same negative trends and advancing low-cost Chinese competition. BMW’s reversal of Plant Oxford’s fortunes is a signal of much deeper trouble ahead.
Under water
Thames Water is another fiasco. The debt-laden privatised utility is about to borrow £3 billion from existing creditors – on very expensive terms that must feed through into higher water bills for 16 million unhappy customers – as a last resort to stave off collapse that would land big losses on investors and most likely lead to temporary renationalisation.
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