85. The SMMT summed up the problem neatly:

"The long-term challenge for the industry in the UK (within the global market) will be to focus on high added-value processes and products and to utilise the UK's significant strength in automotive design and innovation and its skilled and flexible labour force. Competition on the basis of low cost, semi-skilled workers and low value-added processes will be increasingly challenged and become non-viable…"[191]

Like our predecessors we see mixed prospects for companies manufacturing passenger cars in this country, and for individual plants. There were particular reasons why Longbridge and Ryton closed and for the loss of the third shift at Ellesmere Port. However, though the combination of problems experienced by these plants may have been especially acute, we heard nothing to make us believe that they were unique to these plants or their parent companies. It is therefore all the more important that both the industry and Government put extra effort into improving skill sets throughout the sector, increasing the commitment to R&D, adopting lean manufacturing techniques and strengthening the local supply chain.