Coventry cab maker LTI may shut over Christmas

A Coventry-based manufacturer of London black cabs says it may shut down its factory over Christmas to save money.



LTI said it was proposing to shut the Holyhead Road plant for 11-and-a-half days.

Its parent company Manganese Bronze said last month an accounting mistake meant losses dating back several years had been understated by £3.9m.

LTI said it had negotiated a deal with unions to ensure staff would still get paid during the shutdown.

The Unite union, which represents the staff, said many were angry that they had not received a pay rise for four years.

However, it urged them to vote in favour of the company's proposals in a ballot next week.

In a statement, LTI said it "recognises the commitment and dedication of all its employees over a number of difficult years".

It added that while it had had to "reduce production volumes during the year", it was "committed to maintaining full pay and salaries for the remainder of the year".

It wouldn't surprise me if it failed to reopen after Christmas, production is transferred to China and the workforce are the last to hear about it.

I just hope I'm wrong.

It wouldn't be the first time that a stunt like that had been pulled!

Jaguar Land Rover next?

Jaguar Land Rover to manufacture cars outside UK for first time

The chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover has unveiled a momentus move to build cars for the first time outside the UK after it was revealed two models would be made in China.

Although the project still has to be given final approval by the Chinese government, the luxury vehicle maker has already earmarked a site for the Land Rover plant, just north of Shanghai.

While the firm has assembled cars elsewhere in the world, it is the first instance of fully manufacturing a vehicle outside the UK.

Chief executive Dr Ralf Speth said: “We will start with either the Freelander or the Evoque.”

But he also confirmed the Range Rover and the Range Rover Sport were unlikely to be built abroad.

“To build the very complex products, we will always be here in the UK,” he said.

The Freelander is already assembled in Pune, India, from kits sent out from the UK, and the Land Rover Defender is assembled in several locations, including Kenya.

But the Shanghai plant will be the company’s first full-scale manufacturing plant abroad, and will use Chinese parts.

The company, which is creating thousands of new jobs in the UK in the wake of a sales boom, insisted that foreign expansion was not a threat to jobs in the UK.

“We are increasing production, not to reduce in the UK, but using the UK base to grow around the world,” said Dr Speth.

Yeah, right!

Once they have Chinese parts supply set up, they won't need British ones, will they....

What REALLY gets me is that the Chinese aren't cheaper because of better efficiency, they just throw cheap labour at everything. And idiot money men here think that's a good thing!

Having been party to outsourcing components to China in the past, I can tell you it is usually false economy.

They don't adhere to the same standards as we do and you find all sorts of materials used that are either unsuitable or outlawed in the EU. They also make mistakes due to the language barrier, and when you have shipped tooling back and forth several times, not only does the cost outweigh the savings, but you have over-run your timing plan.