Toyota to create hundreds of jobs in the UK

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.independen...n-the-uk-6267284.html

/// Prime Minister David Cameron said the announcement was "fantastic news and a massive vote of confidence for UK manufacturing".///

Pity he didn't voice the same vote of confidence for the train makers Bombardier.

[pa___ul3]

why look for a negative slant on this story, it's all good news! Look on the bright side for once, it's nice over here!

[MaryDou]

I second that - he can't seem to work out that every job lost to British workers is another figure on the unemployment register and more money to find to pay for this. This country needs statesmen not boys who have no idea how everything works and can't see beyond the end of their noses!

[Gromit]

Bombardier did not put in a competitive price when the work went out to tender. They lost.

If there is any future work, they now know what they have to do to get the work.

[naomi24]

That's good news, isn't it AOG?

[Messi_Ten]

Toyota made the decision to create the jobs.

Bombardier are not in that position, due to Camerons cowardice.

[DTCwordfan]

It's good news.

It's not cowardice on Cameron's point.

Crap product, wrong price. No one else would touch their products with the proverbial barge pole - I can just imagine your reaction, Messi, when the train (the Bombardier one) that you were on, ground to a halt making you miss an important appointment.......and that it wasn't just a one off, it had been happening on that line for some time.

[Gromit]

Bombardier doesn’t have the facilities at its Derby plant to carry out the work it was tendering to do for the British government. The plant is only equipped to handle aluminum. The Thameslink trains were specified to be build of steel. Industry experts say that upgrading the factory to handle steel is commercially unviable.

Limited financial credibility of the company would have heavily increased the cost of borrowing, which caused Bombardier to lose to Siemens. Bombardier’s debt has been rated by credit rating agencies to BB+, along with other bidders, such as Alstom and Hitachi, whereas Siemens debt is rated at A+, a difference of six notches.

In short, Bombardier could not do the work without investing in new plant, and did not have the money to do so.

[Gromit]

I should have attributed the information above to this blog.

http://www.toonaripos...ological-shortcoming/

[jake-the-peg]

//By consolidating production of its European hatchbacks in one place, Toyota said it could use the UK plant’s production capacity more //

European - not British - European

This would not have happened if the UK were outside of the EU

[New Judge]

So Toyota only produces a "European" hatchback because of the EU, jake?

Er, I don't think so. Car makers produce a European model to suit the European market in terms of size, performance and so on. SImilarly they produce a North American range to suit that market, not because the United States is a federation of states. \let's not get too confused.

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

Your link was written by Muhammed Faraaz who is based in India, and relates his findings to a BBC report.

Have you the actual BBC link that says it is all down to the Derby firm of Bombardier not having the necessary facilities to build these coaches?

Here are reports on the real implications of first the Labour Government giving away the contract, only to be later backed by the Coalition.

The implications being the loss of not only around 1,400 workers at Bombardier, but also thousands more jobs at risk at firms across the country,

http://www.independen...ost-jobs-2349978.html

http://www.guardian.c...german-rival-contract

Can't see anything in this BBC link that backs up your original link neither.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13792510

[Gromit]

New Judge

The point is, that the US model is built in the US. Not in Mexico or Brazil, but in the the United States. If we were no longer in the EU, Toyota would not have built its European model here. It would have built it in another EU country.

[Old_Geezer]

It is good news we have the contract to make the product, it is bad news that it is not a UK company generating and profiting from the wealth. It all depends on how you want to look at it. It seems to me that if one argues it is a good thing for us to invest abroad, then the argument for it being a good thing for a foreign country to invest here takes a blow. Both may profit, but not as much as they could were the circumstances different.

[Gromit]

AOG

// Bombardier does not have the facilities at its Derby factory to carry out work it has been invited to bid for by the government, the BBC understands.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said the firm could protect jobs by securing a deal to upgrade CrossCountry trains.

The work would involve building new steel carriages but the plant is only equipped to weld aluminium, BBC Derby's political reporter Chris Doidge said. //


http://www.digitalhen...d-derbyshire-14947244

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

That was for the upgrade of the CrossCountry trains, worth about £120m

And not the one under discussion, that being the £1.4bn Thameslink contract.

[jake-the-peg]

I think you're confused NJ

We are the most dependant nation in Europe on inbound investment like this.

Toyota are not interested in the British Market but the European Market and we have to stay part of that to continue to attract this sort of investment


BTW where's Geezer/Kayless on how British Motor workers are militant scum who can't be trusted to make cars without striking every 5 minutes

Seems quiet

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// If we were no longer in the EU, Toyota would not have built its European model here. It would have built it in another EU
country. ///

That being the case why did they particularly choose the UK in the first place, surely it wasn't just because we were a member of the EU, because they could have chosen other countries?

[Gromit]

// Why did [Toyota] particularly choose the UK in the first place, surely it wasn't just because we were a member of the EU, because they could have chosen other countries? //

Yes it was. From Toyota's own website

// Toyota's decision to establish a manufacturing operation in Europe was announced in 1989 and Toyota Manufacturing UK was established in December that year. //

http://recruitment.to...com/home/about-us.jsp

[jake-the-peg]

No it wanted a European base and we were the best.

This is common experience with international investment - even allowing for our seperation from the mainland.

But if we were outside the EU we wouln't even be on the shortlist

[Brenden]

Why not JTP, all EU members and Ex EU members are allowed the same rights to trade - that was the agreement.