Automotive companies in Britain have a bright future if they meet quality and cost demands from the booming Ford Premier Automotive Group, writes Robin Roberts.


That’s the belief of Professor Garel Rhys, head of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University.


He was speaking after a briefing this week with Jaguar which, with Aston Martin and Land Rover, makes up most of PAG, which also includes Volvo.


Rhys has been told that Ford holds PAG in such high regard that it expects the division to generate a massive 20 percent of Ford’s global profits in 2004.


That will come from a raft of new models, led by the new 4x4s from Land Rover, further model derivatives from Jaguar and a new small Aston Martin.


Volvo is also getting ready to make a successor to the S- and V40-series cars based on the platform of the next generation Focus.

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Sharing of platforms and components will dramatically cut costs and lift profits for the Ford-owned marques without destroying their identities and individuality, said Rhys.


“The strategy is in place to build on the cost savings and it will succeed so long as it is not taken too far and the cars lose brand identity, which is unlikely to happen,” he added.


The heavy presence of UK quality car makers in the PAG brings enormous security to UK plants and their component suppliers, who have a bright future so long as they can meet orders.


“Component firms who are secure and efficient are looking at a very bright future,” Rhys said.


He added that he belived that the forthcoming new Jaguar F-Type sports car would be built in Britain, not America, and the likely base would be either Bloxham in Oxfordshire or Gaydon in Warwickshire.


Bloxham was used to assemble the Aston Martin DB7, which will be transferred to a new facility in Gaydon, and might just win the new Jaguar contract as well.


“The DNA of Jaguar suggests they would only build the new sports car in Britain,” Rhys said.