We can go further by riding shotgun with Chinese carmakers
The ranks of Chinese carmakers in Britain are swelling. Later this month the state-backed Changan automotive company joins its compatriots BYD and Omoda in taking on Tesla with the introduction of an electric vehicle called Deepal S07.
The carmaker already has British roots, with a research and development centre in Birmingham. Nic Thomas, Changan’s UK marketing chief, said last weekend: “Britain is an open and accessible and accepting market for electric cars. This is a natural base for us.”
A decision on whether to make an even bigger commitment to the UK with a manufacturing site will be made by the company based on cost efficiencies and supply chains.
Thanks to their infrastructure and ready access to materials, Chinese firms are accelerating past our own car industry, which is going through a bumpy electric transition. It may be tempting to turn to trade barriers such as tariffs to control the influx of cheaper cars from China.
Yet rather than trying to hold back the tide, we could do well to roll out the red carpet to joint ventures with Chinese manufacturers. That road, although paved with some pitfalls such as surveillance concerns, leads to knowledge transfer and job creation, as it once did with Japanese automotive companies.
To paraphrase Andy Palmer, the former Aston Martin boss who has worked with the Chinese: as the second-largest EV market in Europe, the UK has the clout to cut a good deal for localised production. It should not grant free access.
Skilful adjustment
Is AI going to take all our jobs or will we be working well into our 70s for lack of a decent pension? That is provided you can get a job, given workplace ageism.
You hear all these gloomy scenarios regularly so it was refreshing to come across this finding from the Management Consultancies Association: a 25 per cent increase in experienced hires in the consulting industry last year. These are individuals opting for a career change as firms seek deeper expertise in areas such as digital tech, energy cybersecurity, defence, supply chains and decarbonisation.
Jo Andrews, 56, is one of those who has made the switch to a second career in professional services. Previously an anaesthetist for Brighton and Sussex University hospitals for 14 years, he is now a management consultant at a health consultancy, CF. He is eloquent on what he has to offer: “Consultancy that’s going to be enduring needs to change hearts and minds and the best way to do that is the combination of data and stories and that’s what the experience gives me. I can find the stories that are going to resonate with people.”
At the heart of the uptick in experienced hires sits a need for skills. Tamzen Isacsson, the association’s chief executive, describes a hunger for “sector knowledge combined with digital skills, regulatory insight and transformation experience”.
Alongside the hiring trends highlighted by the MCA, I noticed that after the recent Labour reshuffle the skills minister Jacqui Smith will now work in the Department for Work and Pensions as well as the Department for Education. Stephen Phipson, chief executive of the manufacturing association Make UK, welcomed the move, saying: “A clearer and separate focus on tackling the skills crisis as a mechanism for generating growth is much needed and an important step forward.”
Yet a bigger leap is needed from government, educational establishments and industry alike. With AI advancing, digital skills are a priority if you want to stay relevant. Staff of all ages may soon face a dramatic choice that might be best summed up as adapt or die.
A new skills gap is opening up, one we fail to address at our peril if the UK economy is to grow.
Leaving it late
Like an increasing number of people, I have opted for a so-called shoulder-season holiday, from late September to early October. A survey by the European Travel Commission found that more than a fifth of Europeans plan to travel in September, motivated by milder weather, fewer crowds and better value for money.
My upcoming trip, to Mallorca in case you were wondering, is also a package holiday, one where you buy two or more travel services together. This choice was driven by a loathing of paying for baggage on top of the basic air fare. It was also considerably cheaper than knitting a holiday together myself.
Many others are taking the package route, with the strong demand translating into success for Tui, Jet2 and On the Beach. But last week there was trouble in paradise. Jet2, the largest package holiday provider in the UK, said the growing trend for booking late had become more pronounced, making it harder to provide definitive profit guidance. Its shares nosedived and those of its rivals hit some turbulence.
Shares in one operator sailed blithely on: Saga, whose cruises and holidays account for more than half of revenue these days. Its shares have almost doubled year-on-year and they rose on the day of the Jet2 update. What a turn-up for the books after years of shareholder disappointment. As well as a strongly performing travel business, investors can thank a successful refinancing, an insurance partnership and the sale of the underwriting business.
Yet Jet2’s news shows us that travel stocks are never far from choppy waters. Bon voyage in the meantime.