Rover deal could force suppliers out of sector_2
19 July 2012
Automotive suppliers in the West Midlands have become too reliant on car manufacturer Rover and many will be pushed out of the sector, according to an industry expert.
Professor Garel Rhys, director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University Business School, estimates that BMW’s proposed sale of the group will result in at least 10,000 job losses. Half of these will be assembly line jobs - primarily at Rover’s Longbridge plant - with the remainder, about 5,000 jobs, to come from its supply chain. He said 90...