{"id":1485,"date":"2019-06-20T14:40:10","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T13:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/?p=1485"},"modified":"2019-07-16T16:13:12","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T15:13:12","slug":"ford-bridgend-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/ford-bridgend-closure\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford Bridgend closure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In our latest post, Professor Calvin Jones and Dr Gavin Harper explain how the UK\u2019s car industry could stage a revival by recycling rare earths.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The intended closure<\/a> of Ford\u2019s Bridgend engine plant in 2020, with the loss of 1,700 jobs, has sent shock waves through Wales. Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price, has described it<\/a> as \u201cone of the worst acts of \u2018industrial vandalism\u2019 seen in the UK for decades.\u201d Ford representatives have said<\/a> that the company needs to \u201cmake its engine manufacturing base suitable for the vehicles it produces in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With electric vehicles (EVs) commanding a growing share of the global car market<\/a>, many including Professor David Bailey have stated that the<\/a> \u201cproduction of electric motors was much more important to securing Ford Bridgend\u2019s future\u201d in order to stay competitive in the global automotive industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engine manufacturing is the most valuable part of making a conventional car<\/a>. An enormous amount of knowledge, skill and research and development is required to make highly sophisticated internal combustion engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ford is the largest producer<\/a> of these engines in the UK \u2013 and about half of its output comes from the Bridgend factory. Experts have observed<\/a> that the electrification of cars \u201cis arguably more of a threat to the UK automotive industry than Brexit.\u201d But there is still a chance for the UK to stage a revival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opportunity knocks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There is already some EV manufacturing taking place in the UK, by\u00a0Nissan in Sunderland<\/a> and\u00a0Aston Martin in South Wales<\/a>. There are also new facilities being established to manufacture EV batteries and the materials required to make them, from\u00a0Port Talbot<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Coventry<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there have been setbacks: critically, the UK is no longer a headquarters for any major auto producer, let alone one leading in the EV space. It\u2019s difficult to build up sustainable operations when decisions are made overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is evident in Jaguar Land Rover\u2019s decision to cut UK production of its Discovery model, while subcontracting\u00a0i-Pace electric production to Magna Steyr<\/a>\u00a0in Austria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout being able to rely on any favour from an indigenous car maker, the UK must take its own steps to become the best place to make EVs.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

With the UK government keen to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050<\/a>, there\u2019s an opportunity for the nation\u2019s automotive industry to develop and deploy EV technology and become a global leader \u2013 but this needs to start now, or the chance will be lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supply and demand<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are two key factors for success \u2013 supply and demand. Of course, there must be enough demand for products manufactured in the UK, and the nation must be able to export to those markets. But the UK must also have good access to the supply chains that provide the parts and materials needed to manufacture EVs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many commentators\u00a0already lament<\/a>\u00a0the effect that Brexit is having on the\u00a0UK automotive sector<\/a>. Less obvious, is how this may affect the supply of critical materials needed to develop and manufacture EVs. Global concerns about the supply of these materials is rising \u2013 and organisations, including the\u00a0International Energy Agency<\/a>, are investigating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Calvin Jones<\/a>\u00a0is Deputy Dean for Public Value and External Relations at Cardiff Business School.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Gavin Harper<\/a> is Energy Development Manager at the University of Birmingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was originally published on\u00a0The Conversation UK<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In our latest post, Professor Calvin Jones and Dr Gavin Harper explain how the UK\u2019s car industry could stage a revival by recycling rare earths. The intended closure of Ford\u2019s Bridgend engine […]","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":1487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[883],"tags":[890,893,895,167,884,256,28,887,891,166,885,896,894,888,372,892,889,230,575,47],"class_list":["post-1485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manufacturing","tag-adam-price","tag-aston-martin","tag-automotive-industry","tag-brexit","tag-car","tag-carbon-emissions","tag-cardiff-business-school","tag-closure","tag-electric-vehicles","tag-eu","tag-ford","tag-international-energy-agency","tag-jaguar-land-rover","tag-job-losses","tag-jobs","tag-nissan","tag-plaid-cymru","tag-the-conversation","tag-university-of-birmingham","tag-wales"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paOfaS-nX","meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/620\/2019\/07\/Ford-Bridgend-approach.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1489,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1485\/revisions\/1489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}