Fears that recession will force Britain’s manufacturers to shift production to cheaper plants overseas were heightened on Wednesday after Manganese Bronze, the London cab manufacturer, agreed to sell a majority stake to the Chinese Geely (吉利) group and move more of its production to China.
Manganese Bronze, which assembles the TX4 cab — used widely in London and by several cab companies in the UK — at its factory in Coventry, in central England, said it had suffered a 30 percent collapse in sales since the credit crunch in 2007, provoking a slump in profits. Chief executive John Russell said many cab owners had spent the last two years waiting on car upgrades.
He said the company was considering offering Geely shares at £0.70 (US$1.07) to give the Chinese group a controlling stake. Shares in Manganese Bronze have been trading at about £0.85 since the end of January. Russell also announced plans to source bodies and chassis for the TX4 from Shanghai rather than the Coventry area, where its chief supplier is to shut down.
“This is a bit of a turning point for us,” Russell said after the group posted a pretax loss for last year of £7.3 million. “Seeing the immediate benefits of our relationship with Geely coming through in the TX4, we are now at a point where we can think about building a closer relationship with our Chinese partner.”
Manganese Bronze has already sought to reduce costs by producing parts in China in a joint venture with Geely. The company said shifting body and chassis construction to Shanghai would result in about 60 redundancies in Coventry. However, the TX4 will continue to be assembled in England. Geely, China’s largest privately owned carmaker, is also in talks to buy Volvo from its owner Ford.
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