Stand by for job losses

[Evans Electric]

Perhaps the first major effects of "Brexit"   .   Peugeot have over capacity to satisfy the euro market so,  what do you do with Vauxhall after they have purchased it from GM ...well they don't need the UK plants  so its fairly obvious what was on the cards .       Who wins in the deal ?  General Motors I guess . 

Big mistake voting for brexit ...should have stayed in and forced the issue of free labour movement  ...which was the real reason people voted out .    The French & Germans were begining to change their minds after the terrorist attacks and trying to settle a million Syrian refugees . 

 

[Blue Duck]

Walking into the hands of those who stand to win in some way from this in some way, the price of everything is going up, interest rates going up,its not good but whats worse is the politicians who cant seem to grow a pair of balls (yes Theresa May needs some BIGGER balls).

We're all to busy running about trying to keep our heads above water to really notice whats going on.

Brexit could have been a good move if they could follow it through properly rather than squirming at the knees off our former masters ...."oh please Mr EU can we have some more." 

I have stopped watching the news and listening to talk radio (ala Shapend) and find myself a lot less angry.....

I'm still very disappointed about this whole shambles of a country

 

[Murdoch]

The French and Germans change their minds on freedom of movement?

Not sure they will, but if they try the old Eastern block countries will veto it. They have too much to loose.

 

[datadiffusion]

It's funny, when I used to have an Opel Manta (waits for laughter to settle down) I used to get my parts from a really nice family owned Vauxhall

garage, the staff in there were mostly old boys on the verge of retirement and more than happy to go through acres of microfiche and make

enquiries to see what was and wasn't available (in the 2000s it was actually surprising how many trim and cosmetic parts were still kept in Germany and Ireland for them)

Anyway, the old guy there said that for years, nearly every year apparently, GM gave serious thought to ditching the Vauxhall brand, as it cost them a fortune

to maintain, it really is just for us. And when the club arranged a visit to Ellesmere Port, it was just after they'd got a reprieve then I think (around 2002?).

If it isn't the end for Opel cars (and many think it is - that new designs will be binned after the best ideas are taken out, overnight), it's surely goodnight

for Vauxhall and I really can't see them keeping 2 UK factories of any, which is terrible. I lived in Cov for a year just after they started to demolish Ryton, and the size of the

place was frightening when you think about the number of jobs that must have been lost.

 

[rapparee]

It's funny, when I used to have an Opel Manta (waits for laughter to settle down) I used to get my parts from a really nice family owned Vauxhall garage, the staff in there were mostly old boys on the verge of retirement and more than happy to go through acres of microfiche and make enquiries to see what was and wasn't available (in the 2000s it was actually surprising how many trim and cosmetic parts were still kept in Germany and Ireland for them)

My neighbour has an Opel Manta rally car. They're held in the same esteem as a mkii escort or twin cam corolla. 

Edit: bloody auto-correct.

 

[steptoe]

My neighbour has an Opel Manta rally car. They're held in the same esteem as a mkii escort or twin cam corolla. 

Edit: bloody auto-correct.

Oh indeed, brilliant car,

 

[datadiffusion]

Yes, I think the problem at the time was that you could still easily buy them in the free ads for about £300 with 6 months MOT

and this attracted 'a few barrys'.

Nowadays you would have to be going out of your way to buy one and I imagine you'd be looking at £1-2k??

I had an 1800 (carb, not injection , although this did mean it had the ultra reliable GM Family unit) with 'Exclusive' trim;

these were the ones that were somewhat pointlessly IMHO shipped to Irmersher for final bumper, spoiler and decal fitment!

Being RWD it was a great drive though, and before the days when cars were loaded up with hefty extras, the 90 or so BHP went a long way.

Here it is... Don't be fooled by the ancient Renault, this would have been taken in 2002ish on a Kodak 1MP digital camera



p.s I read online that they've promised to keep EP plant open until 2021, and although cars are a bit different from chocolate,

we were promised that the Cadburys factory at Keynsham (very near the dealer I used to use as it happens!) would 'never close' on takeover too

 

[Lurch]

Nowadays you would have to be going out of your way to buy one and I imagine you'd be looking at £1-2k??

I used to have a few Mk2 Cavaliers, all SRi130's. Got rid of them all (not intentionally, just ran out of space/money) in around 2002. Recently looked for one as a project and got nowhere, but did find some Astra GTE's, for £6k. Wish I'd have still got all the 130's now.

 

[datadiffusion]

I have mixed guilty / scary memories of doing very, very silly speeds (not me driving mind) in an Astra GTE 16v down the M5 about 20 years ago...

I believe a classic example as no MkIII Astra was ever as fast 0-60 as the Mk 2 GTE 16V?

 

[Sidewinder]

No foreign based company that has ever bought a UK based organisation, or another company, with UK assets will ever keep the Uk assets unless there is something extraordinarily special about them.

For the last 30+ years there has been nothing special we have the weakest employment protection laws in the EU, you can't blame the EU for that, the blame lie squarely with the UK Government.

We also have a slight disadvantage in comparison to all mainland EU countries.

We are not mainland.

Eire seems to have something that we don't, I'm not sure, but I think it is something to do with taxation?

Never been a lover of GM cars, just a personal choice thing, & something to do with the local dealer being rubbish.

My wife used to have an Opel Kadette, the dealer was IMHO deliberately obstructive with regard to getting parts.

The dealer 20 miles away was akin to that described by datadiffusion, they would go out of their way to help.

 

[datadiffusion]

Apparently out of all 200 or something Opel / Vauxhall dealers that there used to be in the UK, until 1989 when the Opel versions stopped being imported in RHD, ten of them, of which the one actually nearest us was one, were always 'Vauxhall only' for whatever reason. Hintons our nearest were called, never sold Opel, notoriously unhelpful for Opel parts. They spanked a load of money on the showroom in the mid 2000s, closed after 40 years in 2015, awaiting demolition for more student flats no doubt!

The decent place was Saltford Motor Services, always helpful.

 

[kerching]

I remember my Dad had an Opel Record Sprint Coupé , probably bought the day they can e out

he favoured the 'odd cars'

Citroen Pallas DS23/25

citroen Maserati 

Cortina 1600E

Nissan Laurel.....best car in the world said NOBODY EVER.......got sick just sitting in it

cannot remember the rest

 

[Sidewinder]

My experience would have been around the 1988-1994 time, so, it would have been just as Opel was being phased out in the UK.

 

[datadiffusion]

I remember my Dad had an Opel Record Sprint Coupé , probably bought the day they can e out

he favoured the 'odd cars'

Citroen Pallas DS23/25

citroen Maserati 

Cortina 1600E

Nissan Laurel.....best car in the world said NOBODY EVER.......got sick just sitting in it

cannot remember the rest

My mate rolled a Cortina 1600e, in the early 90s so guess they were not considered valuable then, I know he scrapped it without second thought.

He used to have really bad taste in music (still does) and recalled how some 80s power ballads were blasting out the stereo as plod arrived with him upside down. You probably had to be there...

 

[phil d]

I expect it' safe to confess now, because I reckon my old gaffer is long gone, anyway I landed this cracking job as an electrician/works manager, anyway I actually had 2 yes 2 company cars! I had a 3 year old Volvo 760 GLE  Turbo, that I used for going to meetings in and a mark 1 Vauxhall Cavalier for day to day running about, I suppose I was quite spoiled back then.

The first time I pranged the Cav I was coming home and decided to suddenly change direction, I roared onto this car park and spun it on the handbrake, CRASH! straight into a stack of paving slabs, cue on badly damaged front wing. I knocked it out as best I could over the weekend and on Monday went into work and told the MD that someone had hit it while it was parked at Asda while I was shopping, He just said to get a new wing, they paid for it, and I fitted it and re sprayed it.

About 2 months later I decided to do a handbrake turn while going down a hill, It ended up on 2 wheels, I got it down without rolling it but hit a hedge, taking out the other wing. Monday morning as I was pulling up at work the MD was stood outside the building and saw the damaged wing. Before I could say anything he looked at me "I see you've been to Asda again, for christ's sake shop somewhere else, it's costing us a fortune in body panels". I fitted a new wing and sprayed it up again, when the company shut down about 6 months later they actually gave me the car as well as a decent redundancy payout, top bloke that guy was.

 

[Evans Electric]

Our gutless leaders should have faced down the EU  on immigration instead of picking up our ball and storming off.    SHould have put the barriers up and said "What are you gonna do , Brussels...beat us up after school ?  Fine us ..well we 'aint paying it .... our country is full up ...we don't need anyone else ....if we are having to build new towns for them can't you damn well see that something is wrong ??   

I remember when we joined the EU....we were lied to and led by the nose into what was going to be ...." Just a bigger market place for our goods nothing else"    

And years later we were lied to  and led by the nose OUT of the EU  , the industry will start to migrate and when our financial services do the same the country will be finished.

 

[Sidewinder]

Our gutless leaders should have faced down the EU  on immigration instead of picking up our ball and storming off.    SHould have put the barriers up and said "What are you gonna do , Brussels...beat us up after school ?  Fine us ..well we 'aint paying it .... our country is full up ...we don't need anyone else ....if we are having to build new towns for them can't you damn well see that something is wrong ??   

I remember when we joined the EU....we were lied to and led by the nose into what was going to be ...." Just a bigger market place for our goods nothing else"    

And years later we were lied to  and led by the nose OUT of the EU  , the industry will start to migrate and when our financial services do the same the country will be finished.

This is the crux of it Deke, it is legitimate for politicians to lie to, cheat, and manipulate the population for their own ends, in the UK, and there is nothing that the population can do as redress.

Too many lies in politics.

The leaving of the EU will I suspect decimate the UK.

The politicians in the EU will have a vendetta against the UK, and will ensure that they make the most of ensuring that the UK, is decimated so that their countries come out on top.

Just the same as every EU company purchasing any UK company, just look at DB and what they have done to the UK rail and parcel companies, and how the UK profits are only used to enhance the service in their own country.

 

[steptoe]

I have to disagree,

I think us leaving is the beginning of the end for the EU, we may be the first to leave, we won't be the last, 

We all talk about the world we are leaving our kids, well, for me, voting out will be one of the positive things I will have done for my children's future, I don't think my forefathers gave their lives so I would be ruled by unelected dictators.

What will/has destroyed the UK is the selling off and closing down of our industries, nothing more, nothing less. What had we got to sell to the EU anyway,? Pretty much half of fk all,! 

We can always buy our GM/Holden cars from Oz or Kiwiland, at least they still drive on the correct side of the road,

Or, do what a lot of people do, buy it in Eire, export it to norn iron (so no vat) then when in NI , register it and then export it back to ROI before the vat needs paid, then drive it back over the border into the UK again,

 

[Evans Electric]

I agree Sidey .

BMW  took the Mini  and dumped the rest .    I think they were after the 4 W drive technology of Land Rover and sold it off.  Luckily it's still there. 

Cadbury's in Birmingham is the size of a small town , been sold on a few times , Schwepps now Kraft  I think .  Closed down the Bristol plant  .

How can we encourage immigrants with all the would be employers disapearing ?

Just trying to think of any youngsters who have left school and are in a half decent job .............no ...they all seem to be still in colleges or at "Uni"  Well eventually they  will need a proper job , where will they find one ?

 

[Kurt]

Paa, Vauxhalls were always an average car at best......Kia's are better, it would be better to build Kia's in the UK.