Dealers facing industry crisis

Pulham said: “I have been in the motor industry for 47 years and I have never seen anything like this — it is going to get worse before it gets better.” Pulham was speaking after participating in last Tuesday's first meeting of a on a sub-group of the MG Rover Task Force. The committee, which was set up to find a way forward for retailers, is due to convene again this Friday, 29 April. “Many smaller dealers were highly dependent on MG Rover and a lot will depend on whether they can manage their cashflow in the next three weeks,” he said. The group includes senior captains of industry plus members of the Department of Trade and Industry and representatives of the MG Rover dealer council. The last meeting covered issues such as finance and warranty arrangements as well as securing a future for 2,000 trainees in the dealer network. Sir Digby Jones, director general of the Confederation of British Industry and chairman of the sub-group, warned retailers could go under if the situation was not stabilised “in a matter of days” and stressed solutions were urgently needed. “The issue of the dealerships' future viability is in many ways the most wide-ranging to emerge from the MG Rover collapse,” he said. “It impacts on the jobs of about 8,000 people — more than were employed at Longbridge. “We need to move swiftly from identifying the issues towards finding practical solutions to give these businesses a fighting chance of survival,” Sir Digby added. Meanwhile Richard Cort, chairman of the MG Rover dealer council, believed the government needed to give financial help to retailers, just as it had promised the West Midlands. He pointed out that some retailers had already gone to the wall because of the collapse, adding that the Longbridge manufacturer owed dealers around £25m. Cort said: “The amount dealers are owed is probably growing — the sub-group meeting focused on how we can get funding for the dealer network and reduce costs.” While Cort accepted that government had recognised seriousness of the situation with dealers, he added: “My concern is whether it will be on their radar after the 5 May election.”