The Business Motoring Week, March 02, 2018

A big week in industry as Geely buys into Daimler

It’s been a significant week in the industry. And not just for the #BeastFromTheEast.

It has been a week for industry events. We held the first Leasing Broker Federation dinner of the year on February 28 in Birmingham (right), and then the following evening the BVRLA had its annual shindig in London.

But the one event that really blew me sideways was Daimler’s new investor: Geely (aka Volvo).

Chinese automaker Geely now has a 9.69% stake in Daimler – the Germany automotive company’s largest investor. Reports in Reuters suggests that Geely wants access to Daimler’s know-how for the development of electric and autonomous vehicles.

Geely already owns Volvo Cars, has a significant stake in Proton and Proton’s Group Lotus unit, has finalised a deal to buy Volvo trucks, and also owns Manganese Bronze Holdings, which makes the London black cab – now going electric, the first of which is on the capital’s roads. That’s quite some brand portfolio for Geely.

Toyota backs Burnaston

I was hugely relieved to see that Toyota will continue to invest in its Burnaston plant. There was a real cloud hanging over the future of the plant, particularly with all the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. That has now been put to bed. Well done Toyota, and congratulations to all the workers at the Derbyshire plant for proving they are a world class production facility.

CO2 emissions go up

While we’ve had clarity over Toyota’s future ambitions in the UK, the government’s dithering and lack of clear leadership over air quality – choosing to finger diesels as a group, rather than the polluting Euro4 engines – has created such a backlash that CO2 emissions have risen in the UK. For the first time in two decades. And that is despite all new cars and vans being substantially cleaner than those that they replace. Read more here.