Brexit threatens UK auto industry competitiveness warns SMMT boss

Speaking at the trade association’s annual dinner in London, Tony Walker, - a 40 year veteran of the automotive industry, and deputy managing director of Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK - called for quicker progress on agreeing a transition period following Brexit and argued that in order to give industry time to adjust and secure long-term investment decisions, such a period should be on the current terms and not time-limited in order to give industry.

Praising the sector for its transformation over the past 25 years, Walker warned that this progress is now under threat.

“I am very proud that today our UK automotive industry competes globally on quality, productivity, flexibility and cost,” he said. “But we are not complacent. Competitiveness comes hard-won. It can be easily lost. A hard Brexit would undermine all that we have collectively achieved. It is a real threat – a hurdle we cannot ignore. After all the difficulties we have overcome, all the changes we have made and the innovations we have brought, we do not need trade barriers to be our next challenge.”