According to reports in the
car industry news, hundreds of
BMW workers returned to the Oxford base of the
car
company, despite predictions of a bleak 2009 for UK
car manufacturers and their employees.
The workers had been off for almost a month over the Christmas
period, with orders for the
mini slumping due to economic conditions and the overall
decline in new
car sales . UK Mini sales are reported to have fallen by 13 per
cent last year.
The mood at the factory, and indeed at
carmakers throughout the country, is understood to be bleak,
with serious job concerns. BMW have already laid off about 290
agency workers.
Global
finance company PriceWaterhouseCoopers indicates that the UK
motor industry will record a slump in output of 20 per cent
this year, with production crashing. Other
companies will close later in the year, including
Honda .
The chief executive of the
SMMT, Paul Everitt, reportedly commented: The motor
industry is facing unprecedented market conditions which are having
a direct impact on UK jobs and manufacturing. Normally strong
companies are facing a bleak future, purely as a result of the
global
banking crisis.
