Manufacturing in Britain

Peugeot is to close its plant at Ryton near Coventry with the loss of 2,300 jobs, it has been announced. The plant is to cease production in mid-2007. ... Jean Martin Folz, chief executive of Peugeot Citroen, said a study had been carried out during the beginning of 2006 showing the Ryton plant had high production and logistical costs. (BBC, 2006/04/18 13:21:36 GMT)

The factory at Ryton in Coventry will stop making the Peugeot 206 model next year. ( Press Association, 2:28 PM) Production of the 207 started at Trnava, a new plant in Slovakia this year. The new model is also made at Madrid and Poissy, near Paris. Another new Peugeot, the 107, along with the Citroën C1 and Toyota Aygo, is produced at another new factory, a joint venture at Kolin in the Czech Republic.

15:13 [CET] Peugeot ferme l'usine de Ryton (GB) Cette fermeture, prévue pour 2007, entraînera la suppression de 2.300 emplois. (Le Figaro).  Peugeot SA's shares rose a little: they were the third highest riser in the CAC40.

Perhaps more important is the question of what is happening to Britain and its place in the global economy. Sceptics worry that the recent period of low headline inflation has reflected the final hollowing out of Britain's industrial base and a one-off shift of manufacturing to lower-cost India and China. But will Britain be able to cope when the Asian giants become more technologically sophisticated? The shift away from manufacturing has deprived Britain of a presence in a sector where technological progress is fastest. (Graham Bowley, The return of macroeconomics, in Prospect magazine, March 2006)

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