Tata ‘should build Nano in West Midlands’ – Bailey

A MIDLANDS-based automotive expert has called on Jaguar Land Rover parent Tata Motors to switch production of its pioneering electric Nano car to the West Midlands.

Professor David Bailey, of Coventry University Business School, said the move could go a long way towards saving one of the threatened JLR plants in the region.

JLR is set to close one its West Midlands plants in 2015 and the academic said he expected the decision of which one would be axed to be made after the General Election.

“One of the measures outlined in Tata’s business plan last year was the consolidation of JLR’s manufacturing facilities from three plants to two, with only one of either the Castle Bromwich or Solihull plants being retained,” said Prof Bailey.

“In theory JLR could actually shoe-horn all their production through a slightly enlarged Halewood, which would be a huge blow for the West Midlands but I am glad that they are looking to consolidate output in the West Midlands on one site and cut costs by having one paint shop rather than two.

“In terms of a plant closure, I don’t know which way things will go. Solihull is a large plant with plenty of scope for expansion. It has a relatively new paint shop and up-to-date multiple forming press. But on the other hand, the firm could easily shift more Land Rover production to the big Halewood plant and focus on high-tech aluminium construction at Castle Bromwich.”

He said further down the line, he could see Tata shifting part of the production operation to a low-cost base in China to take advantage of the rapid growth of sales where the emerging middle classes had aspirations of driving premium vehicles such as Jaguars and Range Rovers.

Prof Bailey said the recent crisis in the automotive industry had seen many car firms, including JLR, having to rapidly re-draw their plans.

Despite this, he said that in terms of sales volume, JLR currently had one car plant too many and far too many separate platforms.

“We need to think more creatively about how to build and sustain manufacturing capacity. If we want more manufacturing, could we look at using Castle Bromwich or Lode Lane for something else,” he said.

“For example Tata have talked about bringing electric Nano car production to Europe. What better place than the West Midlands given the supply chain expertise here and given their considerable investment in R&D in the region?

“That would mean the government taking a more interventionist line to persuade Tata of the benefits of producing in the UK. If the government can make a strong case to bring it to the UK and look to use an un-needed JLR plant it would help tie the firm into local competencies like those in the region’s Niche Vehicle Network.”