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This is the best summary I could come up with:
BMW is expected to say it will spend £600m on updating the Cowley plant, developing the production lines, extending its body shop and building a new area for installing batteries.
But last year, the company confirmed production of most of its electric cars would move to China, where the new models have been developed in partnership with Great Wall Motor.
This is the latest in a series of government-backed investments designed to promote the development of electric vehicles in Britain, ahead of a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel powered cars due to take effect in 2035.
In July, Jaguar Land Rover’s owner, the Indian group Tata, said it would build a giant “gigafactory” to produce batteries in Somerset, a project expected to benefit from hundreds of millions of pounds in taxpayer support.
Germany-based analyst Matthias Schmidt believes car firms have been exploiting what he sees as the government’s weak position, as it tries to secure new investment in the industry after Brexit.
From next year, new rules will effectively ensure that cars with batteries made outside either the UK or the EU will face steep tariffs when shipped across the Channel.
The original article contains 803 words, the summary contains 195 words. Saved 76%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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“I would see this as BMW unashamedly playing the subsidy card, which many have done before them and many will follow, trying to squeeze out some fiscal buoyancy aids from the UK government, which holds terrible cards,” he says.
So, securing MINI whilst the rest goes to get made in China is holding terrible cards?
Sure buddy, and when they get German govt subsidy, what’s that then?
https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/bmw-secures-68-million-euros-state-funding-new-battery-projects
Yeah, and generally governments around the world pay a lot of subsidies to all kinda of industries. There are a lot of jobs on that, not just the factory itself, but the whole structure around it that delivers parts and services to the factory. Then you want to secure some important technologies and productions in your country.
E.g. in Germany we are going to invest a lot in semiconductor factories. We won’t see a direct return in tax from those factories for quite a while or even ever. However, securing that technology and production in the country is worth it.
Germany-based analyst Matthias Schmidt
I’m sure he’s unbiased in every way.
