Auto industry business owner fears no-deal Brexit

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

The fact that Jaguar Land Rover relies on several tier 1 and 2 companies to produce its vehicles highlights the complexity of the car industry in Europe, where parts for one brand of vehicle are manufactured all over the continent, often by several factories. Not only do the parts originate around Europe, the raw materials often do too.

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

A no-deal Brexit is the last thing that Caro needs at the 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 normal. Now he faces increased costs due to stockpiling, plus tariffs of 5 per cent, as well as the added extra paperwork and bureaucracy.

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

He fears that car companies may decide to move production away from the UK to the EU. Caro was forced to make three redundancies this year due to Covid and Brexit and now employs 13 staff. One of them, Dawn Stevens, 51, is fearful that there may be further job losses if there's a no-deal. She's worked at Qualplast for 20 years and her husband also works for the company. Stevens, who didn't vote in the 2016 Brexit referendum, says she just wishes it had never happened.