BMW investment secures future of Mini factories

BMW investment secures future of Mini factories

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Discussion

rjfp1962

Original Poster:

8,368 posts

80 months

biggbn

24,977 posts

227 months

Monday 11th September 2023
quotequote all
This part of the article is rather important. .

The UK investment will be backed by funding from the government's Automotive Transformation Fund - understood to be worth £75m.

General Price

5,466 posts

190 months

Monday 11th September 2023
quotequote all
biggbn said:
This part of the article is rather important. .

The UK investment will be backed by funding from the government's Automotive Transformation Fund - understood to be worth £75m.
I thought it would have been more as well.

asfault

12,780 posts

186 months

Monday 11th September 2023
quotequote all
19k per employee to keep the jobs there + the secondary jobs is a decent investment imo

PurpleTurtle

7,617 posts

151 months

Monday 11th September 2023
quotequote all
Great news for Cowley and secondary industries, but the final few paragraphs sum it all up for me.

What is not yet known is where the batteries for the cars to be built at Cowley will come from. That could yet become a critical issue. From next year, new rules will effectively ensure that cars with batteries made outside either the UK or the EU will face steep tariffs when shipped across the Channel

After the farce of British Volt, what's on the horizon for domestic battery production?

Ronstein

1,445 posts

44 months

Monday 11th September 2023
quotequote all
PurpleTurtle said:
Great news for Cowley and secondary industries, but the final few paragraphs sum it all up for me.

What is not yet known is where the batteries for the cars to be built at Cowley will come from. That could yet become a critical issue. From next year, new rules will effectively ensure that cars with batteries made outside either the UK or the EU will face steep tariffs when shipped across the Channel

After the farce of British Volt, what's on the horizon for domestic battery production?
Cowley AND Swindon where the MINI Panel Plant is located. https://www.bmwgroup.jobs/gb/en/location/location-...

Fundoreen

4,180 posts

90 months

Monday 11th September 2023
quotequote all
Nostalgia time. The original mini was built at a loss.

barryrs

4,556 posts

230 months

Monday 11th September 2023
quotequote all
PurpleTurtle said:
Great news for Cowley and secondary industries, but the final few paragraphs sum it all up for me.

What is not yet known is where the batteries for the cars to be built at Cowley will come from. That could yet become a critical issue. From next year, new rules will effectively ensure that cars with batteries made outside either the UK or the EU will face steep tariffs when shipped across the Channel

After the farce of British Volt, what's on the horizon for domestic battery production?
Could JLR manufacturer batteries for other brands at the planned Somerset gigafactory?

poo at Paul's

14,331 posts

182 months

Tuesday 12th September 2023
quotequote all
biggbn said:
This part of the article is rather important. .

The UK investment will be backed by funding from the government's Automotive Transformation Fund - understood to be worth £75m.
Just to clarify, the total of the Automotive Transformation Fund is £350M, the investment here is indeed £75M of that. Seesm good news, but the batteries will still be from China, which is not good on many levels, not least the 10% tarriff the cars should attract.. but maybe this will change...?


RC1807

12,990 posts

175 months

Tuesday 12th September 2023
quotequote all
I think there's one battery factory in the UK, but to meet the Govt's target for EVs by 2030/2035, there needs to be more battery factories in the UK.
That's where the investment could/should be going?

Zoon

6,850 posts

128 months

Tuesday 12th September 2023
quotequote all
So much for the manufacturing disappearing after Brexit then.

Ronstein

1,445 posts

44 months

Tuesday 12th September 2023
quotequote all
Zoon said:
So much for the manufacturing disappearing after Brexit then.
Some has, hence the great news for the Swindon plant as it should replace some of the jobs lost at the Honda plant in Swindon two years ago.

The BMW plant in Swindon was opened as Pressed Steel Ltd in 1956 (the Pressed Steel Cowley plant opened in 1926) as part of a jont venture involving William Morris and took over from Great Western as the town's biggest employer.

Vanden Saab

14,811 posts

81 months

Tuesday 12th September 2023
quotequote all
poo at Paul's said:
biggbn said:
This part of the article is rather important. .

The UK investment will be backed by funding from the government's Automotive Transformation Fund - understood to be worth £75m.
Just to clarify, the total of the Automotive Transformation Fund is £350M, the investment here is indeed £75M of that. Seesm good news, but the batteries will still be from China, which is not good on many levels, not least the 10% tarriff the cars should attract.. but maybe this will change...?
That will depend on whether the EU have enough capacity, at the moment they do not either...
https://www.acea.auto/press-release/inaction-on-eu...

Zoon

6,850 posts

128 months

Tuesday 12th September 2023
quotequote all
Ronstein said:
Some has, hence the great news for the Swindon plant as it should replace some of the jobs lost at the Honda plant in Swindon two years ago.

The BMW plant in Swindon was opened as Pressed Steel Ltd in 1956 (the Pressed Steel Cowley plant opened in 1926) as part of a jont venture involving William Morris and took over from Great Western as the town's biggest employer.
The JLR battery plant is also quite a big deal.

don'tbesilly

14,158 posts

170 months

Tuesday 12th September 2023
quotequote all
Zoon said:
So much for the manufacturing disappearing after Brexit then.


https://twitter.com/Jefferson_MFG/status/170112240...

Worth a read:

https://conservativepost.co.uk/bmws-announcement-t...

Oliver Hardy

3,002 posts

81 months

Tuesday 12th September 2023
quotequote all
PurpleTurtle said:
After the farce of British Volt, what's on the horizon for domestic battery production?
Hasn't British Volt been taken over by an Australian company and will resume building the factory next year?