Latest on the German Car Industry

[wilts rover]

When people were telling us the German Car Industry will 'save us', did they really mean that - they will become a place where Brexit backing billionaires can open up new car high-tech car plants - even after reciving UK taxpayers money for opening it here. Congrats if you did - cos that's whats happened:

https://twitter.com/INEOSGrenadier/status/1336320175289769984

Looks like he had as much faith in Johnson as the rest of us:

https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1174344280690831361

[Donnywolf]

So Sunderland folks voted OUT of the EU and now Nissan say - - -  byeeeeee !

Bridgend voted 54.6 to leave so Ineos say - - - byeeeeee !

Ineos bloke campaigned for the Leaving of EU and promised to build a Range Rover type vehicle in the Valleys BUT has now sunk his money into the Plant in Germany (cheers for that)

[selby]

  It's caaled an offer he can't refuse state aid  and a level playing field Germany and France can do it and to level it up nobody else can. Get out of it sign a treaty and ignore it.

[wilts rover]

  It's caaled an offer he can't refuse state aid  and a level playing field Germany and France can do it and to level it up nobody else can. Get out of it sign a treaty and ignore it.

Hmmm... 'I'm backing Britain, we will thrive without the EU'

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1129216/billionaire-backing-brexit-sir-jim-ratcliffe-ineos

[tommy toes]

All this was depressingly predictable.
I hope the turkeys who voted for Christmas are happy with their sens.

[Donnywolf]

We'll maybe end up campaigning to get back in (democratically of course) within 10 years but by then every f****r like this will have jumped ship.

[BillyStubbsTears]

  It's caaled an offer he can't refuse state aid  and a level playing field Germany and France can do it and to level it up nobody else can. Get out of it sign a treaty and ignore it.

Hmmm... 'I'm backing Britain, we will thrive without the EU'

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1129216/billionaire-backing-brexit-sir-jim-ratcliffe-ineos

Good article that. Radcliffe saying that investment would collapse under a Marxist Labour Govt as he left Britain.

I wonder what investment has been like since we voted for the Brexit that he campaigned for, while we haven't had a Marxist Labour Govt?

Oh aye. Here it is.

https://mobile.twitter.com/BenChu_/status/1334843075261304834

[BillyStubbsTears]

See, given that by Jan/Feb this year, the entire possibility of a Marxist Labour Govt had evaporated. So no investment decisions were being based on that possibility.

And we had a Govt with a huge majority, committed to Getting Brexit Done. So there was no argument that there was any uncertainty anymore.

And COVID hadn't wreaked it's damage.

So surely, according to Ratcliffe, there should have been a surge in investment in the UK economy.

Anyone help me out here? Only I'm really struggling to spot it in that graph.

Sarcasm aside, that graph is horrifying. It means that companies have pretty much given up on investing in our economic future since the Brexit vote. That's the next generation of good jobs and strong companies evaporating in front of your eyes.

Still. We took back control, eh?

[danumdon]

I don't think we can take that graph as being the definitive solution as the full effects of Brexit are yet to be realised, we still don't know what policy's will be enacted to react to the full effects of our leaving.

Who knows there could still be momentum downwards to come, it could spike.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Agreed. But we CAN take that graph as businesses' reaction to Brexit over the past 4 years. And it has been dire.

It's like we are running a marathon, but we've chosen to hop on one leg for the first 10 miles. It's possible that we might be able to burst forward once we run on both legs, but why choose to do that?

[danumdon]

It certainly looks like we have been handicapped when you take the last 4 years performance. Im hoping that when we finally leave the transition period that we can take this as a leap backwards to take two strides forward in the future, in reletive terms.

[BillyStubbsTears]

DD.

Yep. We ALL hope that. Trouble is, in the real world, hope counts for jack shit. What matters is cold, hard facts on economic reality.

[River Don]

These vehicles are being marketed as the spiritual successor to the Landrover Defender. They will even look very similar to the Defender, so similar Landrover has even tried to take legal action against Ineos.

As far as I can tell they are only being specced with BMW 3.0-litre straight-six TwinPower turbo petrol and Diesel engines. Yet these power sources are meant to be phased out by 2030.

It's strange they should be launching a new car company based on the internal combustion engine. It makes me wonder how practical it is to make something like a utilitarian 4x4 all electric.

Edit: interesting too that Landrover didn't even attempt to build a practical agriculture/military successor and instead went for another sport utility Chelsea tractor. Particularly since the reputation of Landrover is based on the rugged practicality of the original Defender.