UK automotive jobs will grow in the tens of thousands by 2017, says KPMG

20^thFebruary 2014 – John Leech, KPMG’s UK Head of Automotive, commented on the UKcar production figures for January published today by the SMMT. He said:

“UK car production inJanuary 2014 was flat but recent launches of carsmade in Britain such as the Nissan Qashqai, BMW Mini and Range Rover Sport bodewell for the UK industry. The SMMT forecasts that vehicle production will growfrom 1.5 million in 2013 to over 2.0 million in 2017. 

“A keyquestion vexing the industry and government is whether this will percolate downinto jobs growth in Britain’s 2,000 supply chain companies.  In the 1990sand 2000s the UK automotive supply chain was ravaged and the proportion ofparts sourced from UK suppliers dropped to as low as 35 percent.  Eighteenmonths ago, the Automotive Council highlighted that there was £3 billion ofunfulfilled opportunity for UK suppliers, which has undoubtedly increased substantiallysince then. This has prompted recent investments from companies such as GKN,TRW, Lear, Borg Warner and Nifco raising optimism that the proportion of partssourced from UK suppliers is likely to rise above 40 percent by 2017.  Theincrease in supply should translate into jobs growth measured in the tens ofthousands by 2017.

John Leech concluded:“We are seeing a substantial upsurge of interest by potential investors in theUK automotive supply chain the like of which we haven’t seen for severaldecades.  Investors are principally overseas automotive suppliers but weare seeing interest from private equity and companies from closely-relatedsectors too. All in all, the outlook for the UK car industry looks bright.”

About KPMG

KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is asubsidiary of KPMG Europe LLP and operates from 22 offices across the UK withapproximately 11,500 partners and staff.  The UK firm recorded a turnoverof £1.8 billion in the year ended September 2013. KPMG is a global network ofprofessional firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. It operates in155 countries and has 155,000 professionals working in member firms around theworld. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated withKPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swissentity.  Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describesitself as such.