Motor boss sparks new fears over jobs

Jan 13 2010 By Adrian Pearson, The Journal

A BID to bring thousands of electric car production jobs to the region could fail because the Government has not followed up on the North East’s success.

The head of one of Europe’s most important motor industry groups has said Portuguese efforts to introduce electric car charging points were moving much faster than UK plans.

Ivan Hodac, secretary-general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, said money spent on support for the North East’s electric car infrastructure was not visible across the rest of the UK.

Nissan’s Sunderland plant, which employs more than 3,000 workers, is currently bidding against its factory in Portugal to build the manufacturer’s "Leaf" electric car.

If it wins it will secure thousands of jobs. Millions of pounds have already been earmarked by development agency One North East to pay for electric charging points across the region in a bid to encourage motorists to buy the car.

But despite those efforts, repeatedly praised by Nissan bosses, there are concerns that a lack of motivation in other parts of the country will cost the North East chance of winning the contract.

Speaking ahead of his keynote speech at the North East Economic Forum last night, Mr Hodac warned that global competition for investment was such that only a nationwide approach to infrastructure investment would satisfy major manufacturers.

There was also praise for the efforts made so far to turn the North East into a flagship Low-Carbon Economic Area, a key part of the Great North Revolution plans to change the face of industry in the region.

But, Mr Hodac said, this success could be for nothing if the average motorist is not convinced the support and vital network of charging points will exist outside the region.

He said: "I know if I buy an electric car I can go to work and charge the car or go home and charge the car. But what if I want to go to London or say a journey of several hundred miles across the country? In Portugal they are really moving fast on this, they are taking a country-wide approach.

"Here I do not know if there is that same network in place. It is great that you have those charging points here in the region but I want the car and be able to drive it to London and know what happens there.

"At the end of the day, Portugal is moving very fast with this. In places where this infrastructure exists that will bring you jobs maybe, but you need a much wider approach.

"It is difficult to compare the two but you need to do this sort of thing at a national and European level, not just at a regional level."

Mr Hodac is a representative in Brussels of the 15 European automobile manufacturers and as such regularly speaks to ministers and civil servant bosses.

He added: "When I speak to those in the UK Government they often wrongly tell me you do not have a car industry here, that it is all foreign owned and not their’s to support.

"This is wrong. It does not matter who owns the company, the jobs are still there and they must be preserved.

"We often find that in the EU the UK is the one who plays down support for this industry when actually the question that should be asked is ‘What is the UK Government going to do to support the motoring sector?’

"Because after everything else that has happened it is time the Government looked at regions such as yours and manufacturers such as Nissan and said ‘What can we do to keep that base here?’"

Mr Hodac said Nissan’s continued success had now made the North East the biggest car-producing region in the UK.

Nissan was last night unavailable for comment.