Comedian Frankie Boyle once said “So the best tennis player in Britain is Scottish? I’m not up to speed on my Nostradamus but isn’t that one of the harbingers of the apocalypse or something?”. Well, here’s another unlikely scenario, manufacturing jobs flowing INTO the U.K. The BBC report that Dutch luxury car maker, Spyker, is calling it a day in Zeewolde, The Netherlands and moving all manufacturing to Coventry, West Midlands, UK. Spyker warned that 45 out of the 135 jobs would be at risk during the transfer, although, the headquarters would stay in The Netherlands. The main reason behind this shift is that Spyker want to be closer to its main parts supplier, CPP Manufacturing LTD. Victor Muller, Spyker Cars chief executive, said “With approximately half of our vehicles’ parts and components sourced in the UK, and virtually all key suppliers being located there, moving closer to our suppliers and engineering partners will result in substantial savings and tangible efficiency improvements.” While all those reasons are sound, could another big reason for the move be the UK pound nearly reaching parity with the Euro? Who cares? We’re just grateful for the jobs. Dank u.
Good for the U.K., it’s nice to see them getting a few jobs in a time when so few of us actually are. It must suck for the Netherlands though.
The U.K. really is the last bastion of cottage cars.
They’re just a bit late of to pick up Jaguar’s Browns Lane factory; it’s already been flattened. Peugeot’s Ryton plant may still be standing though. All the others in Coventry (Triumph’s Canley, Alvis, Massey Fergusson, Daimler) have long since been converted into houses or supermarkets. There’s still a few London Taxis being made at (what used to be called) CarBodies; maybe they’ll have some spare floor space required for the couple dozen cars Spyker will make each year.