Triumphing During Economic Slowdown

According to MotorTrend, the economic slowdown is actually going to be a benefit for the British car industry.

Cardiff Business School car industry guru Professor Garel Rhys is predicting that the falling value of Sterling will make British built cars easier to export, despite the gloomy economic outlook.

He said that some 76 per cent of UK car production was for export, and Sterling’s value fall would make these vehicles more profitable, helping to justify inward investment in the UK car industry, notably from emerging economies such as China.

The latest UK vehicle investor is Indian industrial combine Tata, which has recently bought Land Rover and Jaguar from Ford. Other investors include the Russian backers of the LDV van making business.

He added that the currency value shifts would cut the profitability of imported cars, which currently account for 86 per cent of British sales, and this would make locally sourced vehicles more competitive ‘at the margins.’

Professor Rhys’s comments contrast with his recent warning that UK car retailers faced the toughest economic conditions since the early 1990s.

Staff