Auto industry business owner fears no-deal Brexit

Qualplast is a very small cog in UK production of Jaguar Land Rover cars. It coats central consoles, which sit between 2 front seats, with a luxurious material, kwn in tre as flocking. It's a second-tier producer which means it doesn't deal directly with Jaguar Land Rover but with ar company, IAC, which manufactures consoles for JLL.

fact that Jaguar Land Rover relies on several tier 1 and 2 companies to produce its vehicles highlights complexity of car industry in Europe, where parts for one brand of vehicle are manufactured all over continent, often by several factories. t only do parts originate around Europe, raw materials often do too.

Qualplast managing director David Caro imports from Germany both glue and flocking needed to coat consoles, because he says Britain doesn't make m. He's worried that Brexit will result in both delays at ports and an increase in costs so he has stocked up on four months worth of supplies.

A -deal Brexit is last thing that Caro needs at end of a tumultuous year that has seen profits tumble and redundancies due to Covid-19. Caro was forced to close his factory for three months from March and production is still 25 to 33% less than rmal. w he faces increased costs due to stockpiling, plus tariffs of 5 per cent, as well as ded extra paperwork and bureaucracy.

"With Brexit and Covid we have almost perfect storm," said Caro.

He fears that car companies may decide to move production away from UK to EU. Caro was forced to make three redundancies this year due to Covid and Brexit and w employs 13 staff. One of m, Dawn Stevens, 51, is fearful that re may be furr job losses if re's a -deal. She's worked at Qualplast for 20 years and her husband also works for company. Stevens, who didn't vote in 2016 Brexit referendum, says she just wishes it h never happened.