Fly the flag (buy British)

[malumbu]

Not sure if it is a craze but I seem to be seeing more cars with a union flag or cross of St George on their number plate.

I assume that this is a buy British campaign https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Backing_Britain_Badge.jpg but I do wsnt to stop the driver and remind them that they are driving a German car.

I think in the top ten the Astra (was US now French manufacturer) and Quashqai (Japanease) are made here.

As for British owned companies I expect that Morgan may be the largest which is a fraction of the domestic market.

Great to hear from those flying the flag.

[uncleglen]

They are still making engines at Ford in Dagenham...

Part of the campaign to persuade us to vote Yes to the EEC included telling the electorate that Europeans would be driving cars built in the UK...

[JohnL]

Mine has Welsh flags on it and has for a while :)

I do support Port Talbot Steel (and the workers there) - just been another merger in that industry (Tata Steel & Thyssenkrupp).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41330282

[malumbu]

In deed loads of components are made in the UK and Dagenham, whilst only employing a few percent of the staff it did in its Cortina days, makes half of Ford's light diesel engines. Ford can of course crate the machinery and robots and move elsewhere, as can BMW at Cowley - funnily enough who employ loads of Eastern Europeans so that may be a win win both for those returning home and those whining on about Jonny foreigners taking British jobs. Motor industry is very perilous at the moment - take their word for it not mine.

Anyway back to the point in question. If as there has been much success in UK businesses in the supply chain then we could badge are cars up according to the different countries that contributed. It may be a bit messy to combine flags but perhaps we could do something simple like a blue flag with a circle of starts. In fact I see many have adopted already, Oh no this is not supposed to be a Brexit thread....

PS I have visited the Dagenham plant and I do know what I am talking about.

[fishbiscuits]

It is a bit embarrassing that all the iconic British motor manufacturers/brands (Mini, Land Rover, Jaguar, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Lotus) have all needed foreign ownership to make them viable. Not only have the new owners brought money, they've also brought know-how and improved the quality. Why couldn't we do it by ourselves?

[JohnL]

fishbiscuits Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> It is a bit embarrassing that all the iconic

> British motor manufacturers/brands (Mini, Land

> Rover, Jaguar, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Lotus) have

> all needed foreign ownership to make them viable.

> Not only have the new owners brought money,

> they've also brought know-how and improved the

> quality. Why couldn't we do it by ourselves?

I don't think there's much appetite to invest in manufacturing within the UK.

Although we obviously can do things (look at F1)