Knowt
UK Car industry (paper3)
During COVID car sales dropped to 1.6m in 2020 (the lowest it’s been since 1992) after peaking at 2.7m in 2017 Johnson Matthey PLC
British chemicals company exiting the battery chemical market
Hinders UK EU production -> chemicals must be imported from the dominant Chinese and European firms
Left due to a lack of profit as competition pushes down the price
Nissan
Nissan production uses Kaizen to refine flow to be more efficient and minimise errors
Sutherland Nissan factory: • 2 lines making 519,000 per annum • 6,000 directly employed + 30,000 indirectly employed • £10 million battery facility nearby • Uses 10 wind turbines and solar farms • Since 2011 employees have undergone 2 million hours of training for electric vehicles • Heavily automated • 900 employed in research + development • Second battery factory underway
SWOT ANALYSIS: BRITISH CAR INDUSTRY
Strengths: • Globally recognised brands e.g., Land Rover, Mini • Good supplier network, especially for engines • Proximity to Europe • High education levels for quality manufacturing
Weaknesses: • In 5 years, the UK production has halved • Brexit complicates exports • Low attraction for FDI due to Brexit (no longer in a trading bloc) • Few factories at a globally competitive scale
Opportunities: • High innovation can be capitalised on using higher education for quaternary expansion • Electric vehicle production requires investment in battery production (gigafactory proposed next to Coventry airport)
Threats: • No battery plants, very far behind in the transition to electric vehicles • Electric minis made in China instead of Oxford (easier to assemble there) • $7,500 subsidy in the US for each “green” car threatens 16% of UK exports going to the US
Trends:
In the last 10 years, sales have dropped (in the market by 32%)
Though sales of petrol and diesel cars slumped, sales of battery electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf grew to about 6.6% of the UK market
Shift towards SUVs – 40% of annual car sales (twice as high as it was 10 years ago) • Electric vehicles and increased efficiency saved 2.1m barrels a day of diesel and petrol, but SUVs added 3.3m barrels a day • Electric vehicles on the world’s roads expected to increase to 145m by 2030
As the motor industry turns electric, it is important for employees to have digital/electrician skills to repair and understand how the car works, making it more difficult to recruit as there is a higher demand for highly skilled/qualified workers rather than apprentice/mentor relationships which were more common in the past.
UK Car industry (paper3)
During COVID car sales dropped to 1.6m in 2020 (the lowest it’s been since 1992) after peaking at 2.7m in 2017 Johnson Matthey PLC
British chemicals company exiting the battery chemical market
Hinders UK EU production -> chemicals must be imported from the dominant Chinese and European firms
Left due to a lack of profit as competition pushes down the price
Nissan
Nissan production uses Kaizen to refine flow to be more efficient and minimise errors
Sutherland Nissan factory: • 2 lines making 519,000 per annum • 6,000 directly employed + 30,000 indirectly employed • £10 million battery facility nearby • Uses 10 wind turbines and solar farms • Since 2011 employees have undergone 2 million hours of training for electric vehicles • Heavily automated • 900 employed in research + development • Second battery factory underway
SWOT ANALYSIS: BRITISH CAR INDUSTRY
Strengths: • Globally recognised brands e.g., Land Rover, Mini • Good supplier network, especially for engines • Proximity to Europe • High education levels for quality manufacturing
Weaknesses: • In 5 years, the UK production has halved • Brexit complicates exports • Low attraction for FDI due to Brexit (no longer in a trading bloc) • Few factories at a globally competitive scale
Opportunities: • High innovation can be capitalised on using higher education for quaternary expansion • Electric vehicle production requires investment in battery production (gigafactory proposed next to Coventry airport)
Threats: • No battery plants, very far behind in the transition to electric vehicles • Electric minis made in China instead of Oxford (easier to assemble there) • $7,500 subsidy in the US for each “green” car threatens 16% of UK exports going to the US
Trends:
In the last 10 years, sales have dropped (in the market by 32%)
Though sales of petrol and diesel cars slumped, sales of battery electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf grew to about 6.6% of the UK market
Shift towards SUVs – 40% of annual car sales (twice as high as it was 10 years ago) • Electric vehicles and increased efficiency saved 2.1m barrels a day of diesel and petrol, but SUVs added 3.3m barrels a day • Electric vehicles on the world’s roads expected to increase to 145m by 2030
As the motor industry turns electric, it is important for employees to have digital/electrician skills to repair and understand how the car works, making it more difficult to recruit as there is a higher demand for highly skilled/qualified workers rather than apprentice/mentor relationships which were more common in the past.
