JLR boss calls for free and fair European trade
The chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover says that the business will continue to need 'free and fair trade' with Europe following Brexit.
Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show, Dr Ralf Speth said that Europe was the most important market for JLR because as well as selling 120,000 cars a year there it bought components from Europe for the 600,000 cars it made in the UK.
JLR, which has its engine manufacturing centre at Wolverhampton, was unveiling its revolutionary Range Rover Velar and Jaguar I-PACE Concept electric car at the show in Switzerland.
Dr Speth said he was worried about the effects of Brexit on his firm.
"At the end of the day I feel really responsible for our employees. We have more than 40,000 employees in the UK," he said in an interview.
Dr Speth said it did not make sense to speculate on the safety of those jobs, until it had a better idea of what Brexit will look like.
He said that Europe was the biggest market for JLR and it was dependent on continued free and fair trade with the EU's tariff-free single market.
"I totally accept the democratic process and we are where we are. Now we have to work with it and make our company stronger and more flexible so that at the end of the day we can cope with it," he explained
Car makers like JLR are concerned that if the UK. is excluded from the EU's free trade association post-Brexit could mean added costs in both the supply chain and sales.
"It's important for the complete export industry to have free and fair trade," said Dr Speth, who also insisted that he did not need to lobby government for assurances for the autos industry.
"Government doesn't need anything from me – they know better," he said.
Dr Speth said he was cautiously optimistic that sales would grow in Europe this year.
The Velar and I-PACE are both innovative vehicles combining British design and creative engineering. The Velar will be built exclusively in the UK and will be powered by the latest ultra-clean Wolverhampton-built Ingenium petrol and diesel engines.
JLR also yesterday reported its best ever February retail sales of 40,978 vehicles, up nine per cent on February 2016, thanks to strong sales performances in China and North America.
Andy Goss, JLR group sales operations director, said: "I am delighted to see another historic month of sales, thanks in large part to impressive performances in China and North America as well as continued customer demand for the Jaguar F-PACE and Discovery Sport.
"The all-new Land Rover Discovery went on sale in February and the already strong demand makes us optimistic that it will more than outweigh sales of the previous model."
