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Bentley is to shut its Crewe factory for up to seven weeks to prevent stock build up, the company has announced.

The plant, which builds the Bentley Continental and Arnage models, will close from the beginning of March until mid-April. Arnage production will be halted for around six weeks, while production on the Continental line is expected to be suspended for seven weeks.

The shutdown, which affects 3600 people, will be staggered to allow cars already in the production process to...Read the full article

"our workers will continue to get paid while the plant is shut down.” I wonder what the time limit on this is?

Wow, I wish I had 6 or 7 weeks holiday...because that's what the time bank must be about....

Greg1:

Wow, I wish I had 6 or 7 weeks holiday...because that's what the time bank must be about....

It's not a holiday. The 200+ hours not worked in this case will have to be rendered to the company by each worker in order to get his work-time account back in balance. This is the German approach used by Daimler, VW, BMW and so on, to flex with production levels. It is better than sacking workers immediately but will come under strain if demand does not come back to meet even the reduced output levels.

As the Arnage is a coachbuilt car (built to order), does this mean the delivery time has just increased by 2 months?

Brooklands:

As the Arnage is a coachbuilt car (built to order), does this mean the delivery time has just increased by 2 months?

Does this mean my GT wont depreciate as much!!!!!!!!!

kam:

Does this mean my GT wont depreciate as much!!!!!!!!!

No! but it does mean your next one'll be cheaper too!

 There is a bit of a misconception nowadays that Bentleys don't depreciate, its only since 2003 that they have been pretty profitable/good use buys. Most people seem to forget that for the rest of the time they have been money drains, UK dealers and customers better learn that pretty soon, its just life.

Hope you have enjoyed your GT, great car! What are you thinking of having next?

tommallett:

Most people seem to forget that for the rest of the time they have been money drains, UK dealers and customers better learn that pretty soon, its just life.

 

A good point. This must surely mean that as people actually fund their purchases with their own money (which takes longer to save up) rather than finance, the natural conclusion is that for most people cars are too expensive. This means that either cars must get cheaper - they are too expensive. Actually what it really means is that people will soon forget how crap the recession is and will go back to financing them eventually. Shame, cos cars are too expensive and dealers and manufacturers have been damned lucky that finance has been so easy to obtain in the past 15 years.

Hurundi V Bakshi:

Shame, cos cars are too expensive

- not really. Not quite as stark as computers or even white goods but cars today definitely have not risen in line with price inflation since say the late 60s. They're also more massive. i.e. more material to be bought: Ford Focus ~1,200kg, Ford Escort MkI ~900kg.

I think they feel 'too expensive' because the average wage has not kept pace with living costs, especially housing costs. Where in the 50s and 60s a man could support a family on his wage alone now it takes two incomes to service a mortgage with little left disposable to buy or even hp(buy on tick) a new car. That's why in the last twenty years especially finance stepped into the gap left by the unseen fall in real wage purchasing power, cushioning the blow of loss of true affordability. Take the finance, fancy lease schemes etc. away and the true state of denuded wealth becomes clear. The Market will fix this with dramatically lower housing prices, slashed public sector payrolls but the politicians won't let this happen as they're there to serve vested interests. Go figure.