“With between £1.5 billion and £6 billion of purchases soon to be available from General Motors, I encourage all MIA members to wake up to this opportunity and engage with the OEMs in the UK and also Tier 1 suppliers. They need our R&D, fast delivery expertise, right now. The MIA will help to create a closer dialogue with the automotive sector, starting at our Clean-Tech conference on January 12th” says Chris Aylett, CEO of the MIA.
Bill Parfitt, Chairman and CEO of GM UK, warned, at a recent meeting of the Welsh Automotive Forum, that the UK's automotive supply chain "won't be here by 2016 if we carry on as we are" but there were reasons for optimism. Mr Parfitt, who also heads the Automotive Council's Supply Chain council, reported they would soon publish a 'road map', showing what UK OEM manufacturers want and what UK component suppliers can deliver.
"We know there are big gaps in that road map," he said, adding that he had identified £1.5 billion worth of business that could come back into the UK through GM rising to £6 billion over the next few years. “We need to dispel the myth that the UK is expensive and start to shift production back from Eastern Europe to the UK – the mood is ready to reverse that trend."
He urged suppliers to collaborate on research, development and products and work more closely with the UK vehicle makers on lead times for new models, saying "There is not a lot of research and development here, and many UK suppliers don't have the expertise to talk to our German R&D teams, so we're going to address that."
Professor Garel Rhys, of Cardiff University added, “It is a fallacy that the UK cannot compete with other parts of the world. Our unit cost per head is among the best in Europe and our productivity is very high. The industry needs support from the vehicle makers and government if it's to survive and prosper. We can put up a very strong case to build any new vehicles in Britain."
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