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Old 9th May 2020, 09:14   #11
mileshawk56
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Well Greggs is not "exactly" a pie factory but they are British(joke) but I think there could be a British factory, British owned factory producing cars but for the many reasons giving on this forum it wouldn't succeed. And one peculiar and not very attractive trait of the British is we are a nation of snobs, I base that one a life times observation of my fellows. Now what does mbev51 base his observation on. anything similar. Chris.S
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Old 9th May 2020, 11:20   #12
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Just as a matter of interest and to follow earlier established and unquestioned comment I have owned and enjoyed, most of, 21 cars.

The first of my new cars not made in England was a Hillman Imp. We all know where that was made hopefully. I don't mean it was made in the hope of its quality or longevity, more that its origin has not been forgotten. That car was delightful. Phew.

Then the second unEnglish one was a new BMW 520i and then the third a new VW - both made in Germany. There followed a whole range of English cars, all having previous owners, ranging from an Austin van through R-R, Sunbeam Alpine and Jaguar and over the last 50 years a solid stream of P6's and 75's. All of these English cars were either daily drivers or second cars.

In my considered opinion the new cars I bought from Europe were efficient, but Jeez were they boring. Not always up to the perceived reputation either, and certainly not worth the expense of buying and servicing.

Oh, and when you take into account the blatant lying from some manufacturers about performance... Then consider the loss of industry and jobs by the transfer of customers to foreign manufacturers.... My lasting impression of new foreign cars is, well, all that glitters....

Progress is not always a straight line gain, sometimes it proves to be a circle which eventually leads to one's own fundament. I'd willingly have all those English cars again, but none of the others thank you.
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Old 9th May 2020, 13:12   #13
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The days of British owned car plants manufacturing British cars are long gone. What I mean is on the large scale, such as Nissan Toyota and Honda. That was the best situation we could hope for, foreign car makers operating plants in Britain employing local workers, with all the spinoff automotive industry. Sadly that situation now looks to be winding down. What sort of jobs will replace these manufacturing jobs? I’m from Sunderland originally, I’ve seen the traditional industries go, with nothing to replace them, then around 40 years ago Nissan came and slowly Sunderland go back on its feet again. Nissan running down then going will put Sunderland back in the dark ages. What I ask, is what jobs are going to be created to replace those that will be lost?
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Old 9th May 2020, 16:18   #14
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Nissan did bring much needed employment to the region but I was never a fan of it going on the chosen site. The site being an airfield which was to me by far the better location, being on the A19 corridor, to develop a regional airport. What the region ended up with is two airports sited remotely in the back of beyond and struggling to compete with each other. One more so than the other although the other benefited enormously from a metro link which was built to serve it. With a regional airport in my preferred location a metro link could have been built to serve the wider community as well as that airport, not least the people of Washington and those from the wider region who travel to work on one of Washington's several industrial estates.
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Old 9th May 2020, 19:15   #15
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Nissan did bring much needed employment to the region but I was never a fan of it going on the chosen site. The site being an airfield which was to me by far the better location, being on the A19 corridor, to develop a regional airport. What the region ended up with is two airports sited remotely in the back of beyond and struggling to compete with each other. One more so than the other although the other benefited enormously from a metro link which was built to serve it. With a regional airport in my preferred location a metro link could have been built to serve the wider community as well as that airport, not least the people of Washington and those from the wider region who travel to work on one of Washington's several industrial estates.
When I worked at Washington (Pattinson South), I hated my commute.

Either the A1 Western bypass to the A195, or the A19 through the tunnel and off at Wessington way.

I'm not convinced that RAF Usworth would have made a better airport than RAF Woolsington where Newcastle International is built on.

It is less than two minutes from the A1, and has the benefit of the Metro line being on it's doorstep.

The Metro line having been part of the old Ponteland branch line, opened as a passenger service in 1900, and which became a mineral railway in 1929, serving ICI at Callerton, and Rowntree Mackintosh at Fawdon.

It was a shoe in because the infrastructure was already in place, and repurposed in 1981 for the Metro.

If we bear in mind that Newcastle Airport is owned in majority by seven of the local unitary council areas, namely The City of Newcastle, City of Sunderland, Durham County Council, Gateshead MBC, North Tyneside MBC, Northumberland County Council, and South Tyneside MBC, there were probably a lot of decisions made as to where the best location was for the main regional airport.

I agree that Durham Tees Valley is not ideally located for anything really though, this is reflected in it's continued commercial failure

The amount of sweeteners offered by the government to Nissan to set up shop in Washington were incredible, and of course make no mistake it was Nissan's intent to utilise this and the cheapness of the real estate prices, along with the proximity to the Port of Tyne, to allow them to form their backdoor into the European market.

It is also misleading to say that the plant employs much of the skilled staff from former heavy industries from the area, and if the plant closes in the same way Honda are closing their plant in Swindon, it will become another harsh lesson as to the reasons divesting large amounts of regional investment to foreign entities can be extremely hazardous.

The question I would ask myself how I would feel if Nissan close the doors at Washington, I might empathise with the staff losing their jobs, and those involved locally in the supply chain, but I wouldn't view the loss in any way as catastrophic as the closure of Longbridge.

Nissan and Honda both brought high quality modern manufacturing methods to an industry where the indigenous manufacturers had been dogged by ultra left wing......nay Communist style union conveners, and poor management style for decades, and gave consumers what they wanted, reliability and comfort.

It matters not their products were as dull as dishwater, and still are to this day, most private car buyers, irrespective of method PCP, finance, outright sale don't care about where something is made, just whether it will do the job they ask of it.

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Old 10th May 2020, 06:41   #16
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I dont disagree Marinabrian. I was a school teacher in Washington when Nissan arrived, I was very sceptical as it was a Japanese company but Thatcher said it was good for Britain. We are where we are, I’m just worried about where the new jobs are going to come from.
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Old 10th May 2020, 07:36   #17
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I dont disagree Marinabrian. I was a school teacher in Washington when Nissan arrived, I was very sceptical as it was a Japanese company but Thatcher said it was good for Britain. We are where we are, I’m just worried about where the new jobs are going to come from.



Looks like Bicycle jobs will be coming back to Blighty!


Grant Shapps says "UK transport set for a once in a generation change"



https://www.bbc.co.uk/
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Old 10th May 2020, 10:44   #18
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Looks like Bicycle jobs will be coming back to Blighty!


Grant Shapps says "UK transport set for a once in a generation change"



https://www.bbc.co.uk/
Well I can say one thing, although I enjoy cycling, there is no place in my working life for one, and this once in a generation change.........well let's just say I made the mistake of listening to Jeremy Vine while reassembling the car after fitting my new radio earlier in the week

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Old 10th May 2020, 11:13   #19
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Marinabrian that covers most if not all of the points with regard to Nissan. And isn't Nissan now part of the Renault global empire- who had a lot of French government/and other EU funds pumped into them. We did have an existing British car manufacturer BL/AustinRover/Rover/MGRover. Chris.S .
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Old 10th May 2020, 12:34   #20
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Well I can say one thing, although I enjoy cycling, there is no place in my working life for one, and this once in a generation change.........well let's just say I made the mistake of listening to Jeremy Vine while reassembling the car after fitting my new radio earlier in the week

Brian

According to the DfT (Department for Transport) we're not doing a Norman Tebbit 'On yer bike' fast enough & whilst the price of fuel has dropped off a cliff in most of the world and those practically motorist being given a free gallon of petrol with every cup of Latte they buy The price of fuel will inevitably rise steadily here to keep inline with the 'Decarbonisation plan'
https://www.transport-network.co.uk/...hallenge/16583
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