Academic's claims upset General Motors
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GENERAL MOTORS is no longer a UK company, claims the author of a controversial report on the impact of imports on the British motor industry.
Daniel Jones of Sussex University's science policy research unit aims his strongest verbal blows at GM's world car policy which has cut the UK content of its Vauxhall range from 69 per cent in 1973 to 22 per cent last year.
"At this level of UK content, General Motors can no longer be regarded as a UK company, particularly by fleet buyers in this country," he said. And although no statistics are given on the commercial vehicle business, the same arguments apply to the GM world truck policy which has already brought assembly of the Japanese designed Isuzu WER van to Britain as the Bedford Midi.
Mr Jones acknowledges that the UK content of the cars sold here by such other multi-nationals as Ford and Peugeot has also declined considerably over the past 10 years, though not to the same extent. "A clear conflict has recently emerged between the worldwide strategy of General Motors and the national interest of the UK," says Mr Jones. He calls on the Government to take action to prevent GM from putting "the jobs of thousands in the UK motor industry in jeopardy”.
A Vauxhall/ Bedford spokesman described the report as "mischievous".
He asserted that 85 per cent of Bedford truck and van content is still UK-sourced, and added that althougl Midi's major cornpor come from Japan, 60 per of the van by value is rently EEC-sourced.
But Bedford's coy B advertising for the Mk which the closest it corn saying anything at all ; the van's parentage is to to it being "Luton-b contrasts with a differen proach in Ireland.
There, advertisement being run with the s: "When you have a Yei more than economy".