The news is clear. Brexit spelled backwards reads like unemployment for our European car technician brothers and sisters. It’s the sad result of political hubris running smack into the cold hard face of reality.
BMW has said it could shift the production and repair of the Mini to the Netherlands if Brexit becomes a reality. Toyota, likewise, has said it will halt car production in the UK.
Brexit: Bad News for Car Manufacturers
It seems European automobiles will be made everywhere BUT THE UK if Brexit actually happens.
“Toyota would be forced to halt car production in the UK and BMW could shift production of the Mini to the Netherlands if there is a no-deal Brexit, car manufacturers warned at the Paris Motor Show.
Johan Van Zyl, the chief executive of Toyota Europe, said it would have to temporarily close its Derbyshire plant, which employs about 2,600 people, and its future would be uncertain.
He said: ‘If there would be any disruption we’d have to close our plant temporarily to make alternative arrangements. In the longer term, if we were to change the logistics it would add more cost and impact on our competitiveness, and of course the future of our operation.”
The BMW chief executive, Harald Krüger, also seems pessimistic.
“We will no longer fulfill trade agreements and then we are forced to build the [Mini] car in the Netherlands,” Krüger told the Guardian. “Hard Brexit is currently not our main scenario but we are preparing for it. We see a 50-50 chance.”
Whatever the outcome, we’re just happy to be repairing cars in Cincinnati, rather than making them in the UK. We love European cars, but keep us out of British politics. Because it seems that when its Britain first, British technicians are the first to lose.
