Vauxhall’s owner, Carlos Tavares, has warned the dire consequences for its UK factories in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Whilst Theresa May negotiates the UK’s exit from the EU, Vauxhall’s owner is not alone in expressing fear.
Carlos Tavares has said that Vauxhall’s primary request of the Brexit negotiations is free trade.
In an interview with the BBC at the Paris Motor Show, he said:
“If we don’t have free trade conditions then of course we will have to adapt”.
“That may have dramatic consequences for our operations in the UK, which of course we would like to avoid as much as possible.”
“So for us the situation is crystal clear, we need free trade. That’s the number one request,”
Carlos Tavares is the chief executive of the PSA Group. As well as owning Vauxhall, the group owns Peugeot and Citron and employs 3,000 people across the UK.
The owner of Vauxhall is not alone in expressing fears of the impacts of a no-deal Brexit on the car industry.
Earlier today, Toyota warned that a no-deal Brexit could halt UK production.
Equally, BMW has said it will shut its Oxford Mini plant immediately after the official Brexit date for a month. This is to allow the company to enter into the next stages of its Brexit contingency plans.
The automobile industry is not the only industry fearing the uncertainty of Brexit. A variety of businesses have decided to move their European headquarters out of London all together.
Panasonic, Airbus, JP Morgan, Moneygram, European Medicines Agency, MUFG, Nomura Holdings, Barclays, Bank of America – the list keeps growing. These companies have relocated, or plan to relocate, their European headquarters and take thousands of jobs with them.
At 14:37 CEST today, shares in the PSA Group (EPA:UG) were trading at -1.32%.
At 15:00 GMT+9 today, shares in Toyota (TYO:7203) were trading at +1.63%.
At 14:26 CEST today, shares in BMW (ETR:BMW) were trading at +0.64%.
