Tag Archives: Buy British

Will pension freedom create British car buying bonanza?

jaguar_rally_c1761211_1371_453People aged 55 and over can now do what they like with their retirement savings rather than have to buy an annuity to get a guaranteed monthly income for life.

This will affect an estimated c500,000 individuals with many likely to cash in their pension pots to buy a new car, creating a potential car sales bonanza for car dealers.

And wouldn’t it be nice if this could benefit UK based car manufacturers and contribute the entire price paid directly into the UK economy? Rather than shoring up rival German, French and non British manufacturers and economies perhaps?

Clearly car dealerships selling these European cars employ UK staff, pay taxes and contribute to the UK economy in this way but for those who would prefer to ‘Buy British’ what are your choices?

Only three are wholly British owned and expensive with it, but happily there are still cars that are made ie assembled in Britain, providing important manufacturing jobs, as follows.

BRITISH OWNED

+ Caterham Cars Ltd

+ McLaren Automotive

+ Morgan Motor Company Ltd

MADE IN BRITAIN

bond-is-great_2357211b

The following companies build cars in Britain, but are not UK owned.

Aston Martin is owned by two Kuwaiti companies (Investment Dar and Adeem Investments) and builds the DB9, Rapide, Virage and DBS in Gaydon, Warwickshire.

Bentley Motors is owned by Volkswagen and builds the Continental, Flying Spur and Mulsanne models in Crewe, Cheshire.

Honda is Japanese owned and builds the Civic, CRV and Jazz in Swindon, Wiltshire.

Jaguar/Land Rover cars are built in the West Midlands and Liverpool and owned by Tata Motor Company of India.

Lotus is Malaysian owned and builds the Elise, Evora and Exige in Norfolk.

MG Motors builds the MG3 and MG6 in Birmingham, owned by SAIC of China.

MINI builds in Cowley, Oxford and is owned by BMW in Germany.

Nissan is Japanese owned and builds the Juke, Qashqai, Note and LEAF in Sunderland.

Toyota is Japanese owned and builds the Auris and Avensis in Derbyshire.

Rolls Royce is owned by BMW and builds the Ghost, Phantom and Wraith in West Sussex.

Vauxhall Motors are part of US General Motors and build Astras at Ellesmere Port and the Vivaro van in Luton

In case you wonder why there is no mention of Ford, they no longer produce cars in the UK but still manufacture engines in Bridgend & Dagenham as well as transmissions in Halewood.

And for those that might think I have forgotten the iconic three wheeled Robin Reliant, this was transferred to a company called B&N Plastics in Suffolk that still supplies car parts but sadly there are no production plans for new Robins at the moment…

FOXY

PS: If I have missed anything or got this wrong in any way please email me at info@foxyladydrivers.com to update this.

Nissan British car offers for women drivers

If you buy a Nissan, chances are it has been assembled in Sunderland and can be described as a British car.

But Nissan have gone an extra mile to offer their equivalent scrappage deals for cars that are 8 years and older.

So women drivers who are looking to buy a new car and wouldn’t otherwise qualify for the existing scrappage scheme for 10 year old cars (for as long as it lasts) can trade in an 8 year old car and get £2000 off towards the cost of a cute Pixo, a popular Micra Visia, elevated NOTE Visia or grown up Qashqai. There’s something there for all female motorists and with prices starting at £5995 after trade-in, subject to terms of course.

Have a look at their prices and 6.9% finance offers.

If only their cars came in the Union Flag colours, like their advertising!

Well done Nissan for spotting that the mood of the country is for supporting the UK economy and marketing this message to women drivers ‘stay-cationing’ in the UK.

FOXY