WE CAN MAKE 22m VEHICLES A YEAR ... BUT SELL 16m

THE stark reality behind Ford's threat to close part of the Dagenham factory is simple. The car industry in Europe has the capacity to build far more cars than it can sell.

Analysts have put the capacity of Europe's car plants at 22 million a year. Sales last year were 16 million. Only the most efficient factories and productive workforces will survive - and ageing plants like Dagenham, which opened in 1931, will always struggle to match more modern ones. Add to that the reputation of a troublesome workforce, and the decision to stop car production at the site seems inevitable. One of the problems is that these days factories owned by the same company compete against each other to build new models.

For every winner there is a loser, and it comes down to two things - products and people. Dagenham builds the Fiesta, for instance, but the all-new model of that car, due next year, will be built at the more efficient Cologne factory in Germany.

Poor management is to blame for many of the difficulties, But part of Ford's problems in Europe can also be put down to poor product - remember the Scorpio?

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