LowCVP commissions study to examine impacts of policy on automotive investment

The LowCVP has commissioned E4tech and the Centre for Automotive Industry Research, Cardiff (CAIR) to undertake a study which will focus on trends in UK automotive investment over the last decade and at the impacts of policy on the sector which seems to have been emerging as an industrial success story..

 

The UK automotive sector has been bright spots in an otherwise mainly bleak UK economic picture in recent years. High profile investments such as those by Nissan in the battery-electric Leaf plus battery/supply components in the North-East; by Toyota in hybrid car production in Derby; by Ford in EcoBoost engines in Bridgend; by Jaguar Land Rover in low emission technology engine plant in Wolverhampton and elsewhere have created the impression of vibrancy in the UK’s low carbon automotive sector and its supply chain. These investments have coincided with the most rapid and sustained reductions in tailpipe CO2 emissions/efficiency improvements in UK automotive history.

 

The study, which is supported by BIS and Greener Journeys, seeks to consolidate the available data on UK automotive and related investments with a particular focus on low carbon. OECD data clearly shows an increase in UK private sector R&D in motor vehicles and parts since around 2005/6.

 

The study will identify the wide range of relevant (EU and UK) policies to encourage low carbon automotive development which have been introduced over the last ten years and attempt to determine how direct is the link between the sector’s growth and the existence of clear and coordinated policy. It will draw on past experience to make future, general proposals about the direction of future policy.

 

The LowCVP will be helping to coordinate a 'call for evidence' (to be announced shortly) and the study will also be informed by a series of high-level interviews with leading figures from industry, government and related sectors.

 

The LowCVP received several strong bids to carry out the work following a tender process. The joint E4tech/CAIR submission was selected following an interview process with the three leading tenders.

 

An advisory panel is in place to support the LowCVP in this process. The panel includes representatives from the SMMT, BIS, Cambridge Judge Business School, European Climate Foundation and two independent experts. 

 

The LowCVP Managing Director, Andy Eastlake, will be introducing the study in more detail at the Sustainability Hub's 'Green and Growth' event on 10 April in Westminster. Speakers at the event will be discussing how environmental progress can be made alongside economic benefits from a variety of perspectives.

 

The findings of the study are planned for presentation at the LowCVP Conference in Summer 2014.