Northwest automotives at full throttle
The Northwest's automotive sector is running at full throttle. A combination of new investments and record global demand have seen production levels at their highest for decades. And the pace shows little sign of slowing.
The announcement earlier this year by General Motors that it is investing £300 million in its Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port was a clear demonstration of the vitality of the industry in the region.
A few weeks later and it was Bentley, based in Crewe, showcasing the sector's success by posting record profits for the nine months to the end of September. Bentley's growth has been boosted by the growing global demand for the iconic brand. It even has eight showrooms in China, and is planning more.
Bentley is one of the most famous names in the Northwest's automotive history. With a rich heritage, high production values, and a luxury price tag to match, it's not hard to see why the brand is one of the most coveted in the industry.
In fact, such is the allure of the exclusive car, production lines at the Crewe factory have been at full capacity in recent years to keep up with current demand.
In just four years, Bentley has seen annual sales soar from 1,000 to nearly 9,000, thanks to a family of five new models that include the sleek Continental GT, its larger four-door saloon version, a GT convertible and an upgrade of the top-of-the-range Arnage.
Since Volkswagen bought the company in 1998, it has invested £500 million on new technology, new infrastructure and new models, and the workforce has expanded by 40 per cent to nearly 4,000. The investment has generated a healthy return, giving the company the firm foundations necessary to achieve the business's potential all over the world.
Bentley's success is not the only success story lighting up the Northwest's automotive industry, a sector that is worth over £9 billion a year to the regional economy.
When Ford acquired Jaguar in 2000, it invested over £400 million in its Halewood facility on Merseyside, transforming the production line and introducing new 'lean' manufacturing processes. As a result, over the last three years the plant has received the highest score in a worldwide manufacturing audit of all Ford-owned plants, setting a global benchmark for the company.
Now a further multi-million pound investment means that alongside the Jaguar X-type, the plant will produce the Land Rover Freelander 2. It is the first time a Land Rover has been produced outside the West Midlands.
A few miles up the road, nearly 130,000 Astra cars and vans are produced annually at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port facility, while further north in Lancashire, Leyland Trucks, part of the Paccar Group, are building over 14,000 vehicles a year at one of Europe's most advanced truck assembly facilities in Lancashire.
The Northwest is now the second most important automotive region in the UK, with over 500 companies employing some 43,000 people. It's a base for some of the industry's leading suppliers and the NWDA works closely with public and private sector to deliver a co-ordinated programme of support and assistance for companies in the sector, covering areas such as skills and training, manufacturing processes, energy costs and inefficiencies in the supply chain.
Its investment which, says Stuart Heys, former managing director of Leyland Trucks and chairman of the Northwest Automotive Alliance, helps to champion and build on the automotive engineering excellence of the region.
"The Northwest has a deep-rooted tradition in automotives," says Heys, "but more importantly, it has the expertise, the commitment and the infrastructure needed to support a truly 21st century industry."
