The pressure of competition in the motor manufacturing industry has been particularly acute during the past few months, with factory closures in the UK’s automotive heartlands. Most recently, General Motors announced 1,000 redundancies at its Vauxhall car plant in Ellesmere Port as part of a 90-point plan by the company to reduce costs.
Less than a month before General Motors, Peugeot announced its intention to close the Ryton car plant near Coventry with the loss of 2,300 jobs. Added to the Birmingham MG Rover plant closure, the West Midlands has lost nearly 10,000 jobs in just over 12 months.
