F&I Management & Training

The UK motor industry has been offered its first formal meeting with the Government since November, as ministers come under increasing pressure to offer a multi-billion pound support package to ease the sector's financing squeeze. Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has initiated the fresh approach to the industry following a Christmas hiatus in the negotiations, according to Whitehall sources. The talks were offered on the eve of the publication of 2008 UK new car sales figures, which showed registrations down more than 11%. No date has yet been fixed for the talks, but the Treasury is expected to be directly involved. The Financial Times says that the protracted negotiations over help for the industry are being complicated by the separate talks between the Government and Jaguar Land Rover over its request for a £1 million funding package. One car manufacturer has reportedly warned that the industry was being put at an 'increasing disadvantage' by the lack of state intervention, compared with bailouts and financing support in the United States and by European governments such as France and Germany. Meanwhile, industry chiefs, employers' groups and unions will meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday (January 12) to try to work out ways of ensuring that the coming surge in unemployment is as short-lived as possible.

DATED: 09.01.09

FEED: AW