"Why Aston Martin should be building cars in Coventry not Wales"

[dutchman]

There is a strong chance of mass car production returning to Coventry for the first time in over a decade - but our own Prime Minister has thrown a spanner in the works.



While the Telegraph was revealing that Warwickshire-based Aston Martin had held top-level talks about building its new SUV at a secret location in Coventry, David Cameron was telling the world’s press that the government would assist the company in setting up production in Wales.

Let’s give Mr Cameron the benefit of the doubt and assume he didn’t know that the company was also eyeing up a site in Coventry. Either that or his sat-nav must be playing up and he didn’t realise St Athan is in Wales and Coventry is in England.

Of course, some people might view his offer of handing over a Ministry of Defence hangar to Aston Martin as a clever way of softening the swingeing defence budget cuts which have already hurt South Wales. But I digress.

Any argument that an English icon such as Aston Martin - and the associated 600 jobs - should go to a village in another country rather than England’s motoring capital city is, frankly, ridiculous.

Aston Martin’s vehicles should be built in England. It’s James Bond’s chosen mode of transport for goodness sake!

OK, Welsh actor Timothy Dalton may have done a fine job portraying James Bond, but let’s at least keep Mr Bond’s mode of transport English.

Put the sentimentality to one side and there is plenty of fact-based evidence which underlines why Coventry should be the natural choice for Aston Martin.

Coventry, and the Midlands, is well known as the motoring heartland of the United Kingdom - and there are plenty of reasons for that.

The city has everything any serious car manuacturer needs, and it’s the reason Jaguar Land Rover plans massive investment in Coventry over the next few years.

Our supply chain set-up is second to none and we have fantastic research and development facilities in the area.

Not to mention the highly skilled graduate engineers being churned out by Coventry University and Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick.

Then there’s our transport links, and the fact Aston Martin is already based in Gaydon.

Mr Cameron is undeniably a powerful man, and he could make every empty hangar in St Athan available if he likes, but he can’t change the fact that the tiny Welsh village is one of the most remote locations in the UK.

I’m also fairly confident that Coventry City Council would be willing to match Mr Cameron’s offer and find some space for Aston Martin here.

I like Wales, it’s a lovely place for a holiday. But I’d rather live and work in Coventry. Let’s hope Aston Martin feel the same way, despite Mr Cameron’s offer of free Welsh accommodation.

[rebbonk]

Governments of all colours have interfered in the motor industry for years. This is one reason why the mainstream UK motor industry died.

[dutchman]

Aston Martin starts work on Welsh factory after Coventry snub



Aston Martin has begun the first phase of construction work on its new factory in South Wales after exchanging contracts with the Welsh Government.

Aston Martin president and CEO Andy Palmer met Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones to finalise the deal on the St Athan facility which will see the transformation of a Ministry of Defence (MOD) site.

The new Vale of Glamorgan factory signals Aston Martin’s growth ambitions, even though choosing the Welsh site meant potential sites in Coventry and Birmingham lost out.

Last year, the Telegraph revealed the Gaydon-based manufacturer was in secret talks about securing land in the city. The firm had explored 22-acres of land at Browns Lane, Allesley, as a potential site to build the new car.

Bosses at Aston Martin were supposedly offered council-owned land at a massively discounted rate, and plans for Coventry University to build a manufacturing academy next to the proposed factory site had also been drawn up.

The discussions came to nothing though and Aston Martin opted for the village in South Wales.