Last Thursday (15th Sept 2005) Nanjing began their operation to strip the former Longbridge plant of its assets. Equipment, tools, technology and other items were loaded into shipping containers and onto trucks bound for Felixstowe and other ports where it will be picked up by Chinese shipping giant Cosco to be taken around the world to Nanjing’s base of operations.

There are fears that the talk from ex-Powertrain executives about setting up “GB Sports Car Company” on the Longbridge site was just a smoke screen to allow Nanjing to the time to prepare.

Nanjing, who bought the factory after it had been run into the ground, have declined to respond to questions about their plans for the site and whether they plan to cointinue to manufacture cars there. Given the recent events it seems they do not.

One must wonder at the motivations of the politicians who would let a foriegn company not only throw so many of their voters out of work (both at Longbridge and at the local companies that existed to supply the site) but also ‘lift and shift’ so much British intellectual property along with the equipment to utilise it.

Previously loquacious on the subject, John Hemming MP has been silent on the matter of late.