A new body to promote growth in the region’s automotive industry has opened for business.
The North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) is led by industry and brings together major names including Eaglescliffe-based car parts manufacturer Nifco UK, Nissan, Komatsu, Sevcon and Hyperdrive.
The sector is vital to the North-east’s economy; research carried out by the NEAA has found the industry generates £7bn in regional sales, employs 26,000 people - and supports more than five times that number of jobs in the supply chain.
Strategic leadership will be at the heart of the network, to grow the industry, attract new companies and jobs to the region and support business excellence and best practice.
It will also provide benchmarking, help companies to boost efficiency and reduce costs, while working to increase the region’s competitiveness in the sector.
Prior to its launch, the NEAA carried out the first in-depth research into the scale and importance of the automotive sector to the region.
On top of the North-east sales figure, it found the industry is responsible for £5.1bn in exports and creates a £2.6bn trade surplus annually.
In the last five years, more than £1bn in regional investment has been made into 21 automotive projects.
The sector directly employs 26,000 people and impacts on a further 141,000 jobs.
Potentially, 10,000 additional jobs could be created in the next five to 10 years, although around 8,500 people in the industry are due to retire during that period.
The NEAA, which is offering membership to businesses ranging from multinationals to sole traders, will be working to address the resulting skills gap.
Nissan in Sunderland
Speakers at a launch event at the Nissan Sunderland plant included Kevin Fitzpatrick, chair of NEAA and Nissan’s vice president for UK manufacturing, Lawrence Davies, deputy chief executive of the Automotive Investment Organisation and Paul Butler, the NEAA’s chief executive, who previously worked for the North East Process Industry Cluster (Nepic) for almost a decade.
Mr Butler said: “In February last year, we had a meeting with key North-east automotive businesses and invited the North West Automotive Alliance across to talk to us. That meeting spurned an appetite within the sector to create our own cluster.
“Many regions across the EU are organised in such a way. A whole range of businesses and organisations have already signed up to the cluster from large manufacturers, tier-one suppliers to single-person suppliers, legal, financial, and academic organisations.”
NEAA members will benefit from the promotion of the North-east automotive sector’s capabilities on regional, national and international levels as well as from the network’s ability to connect the supply chain to business opportunities.
They will also have access to a comprehensive website with a dedicated members’ area to share knowledge, information and collaborative projects.
Regional events, workshops and newsletters will connect members to potential funds and inform them of new industry issues.
Cost-saving schemes for insurance, international payments and initiatives allowing them to buy materials at better rates will also be available.
Mr Fitzpatrick said: “There are many opportunities ahead for companies in the automotive industry in North-east England to win new business in the UK and from overseas and to improve their competitiveness and capability.
“The North East Automotive Alliance will provide the platform for making sure companies in the North-east are able to take full advantage.”
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