BMW-owned automaker Rolls-Royce has called on British Prime Minister Theresa May to avoid a hard or no-deal Brexit. The company also confirmed it was building up stock, expanding its warehouse capacity and training its suppliers for changes in customs processes – although it has ruled out moving any of its production overseas.
Photo: Rolls-Royce
Britain is due to leave the EU in 80 days but it looks like a draft Brexit agreement will be voted down last week by lawmakers, increasing the likelihood of a no-deal exit from the world’s biggest trading bloc.
Rolls-Royce Chief Executive Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes said: “We are highly dependent on a proper, working frictionless chain of goods and this whole company hinges on just-in-time deliveries. We urge the government to avoid any hard Brexit.”
Rolls-Royce saw records ales last year, rising 22% to 4107 cars sold in 2018. This was boosted by a more than 40% rise in demand from China.
Of this growth in the Chinese market, Mr Mueller-Oetvoes said: “You see more and more self-drivers in the Chinese market, people being behind the wheel particularly over the weekends in the luxury sector ... and that made (models) Wraith and Dawn quite successful in China last year.”
“I can’t comment yet on how 2019 will pan out for us in China but so far we haven’t seen dents in our success over there.”
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