BMW boss tells Johnson to 'listen to the people' and prevent no-deal Brexit

Harald Krueger says he would personally visit British prime minister to deliver his message

'Listen to the economy and listen to the people. He needs to be in a dialogue with business. I would visit Johnson to tell him this,' says Harald Krueger (EPA)

The boss of BMW has urged Boris Johnson to “listen to the people” and avoid a no-deal Brexit that would be disastrous for the UK car industry.

Asked what advice he had for the prime minister, Harald Krueger said: “Listen to the economy and listen to the people. He needs to be in a dialogue with business. I would visit Johnson to tell him this.”

Speaking to investors and journalists after the German car maker unveiled a 29 per cent fall in quarterly net profit, Mr Krueger described Brexit as a “lose-lose” scenario.

BMW produces vehicles for all of its major brands, including Mini and Rolls-Royce, in the UK, employing around 8,000 people and a further 14,000 indirectly through its dealerships.

Like other car makers, BMW has warned of the severe negative consequences of a hard Brexit on the industry in Britain, which relies on supply chains that span much of Europe and need frictionless movement of components across borders.

Mr Kruger’s warning came shortly after Ford’s president of automotive Joseph Hinrichs told the BBC that a disorderly departure from the EU would increase risks to its business.

“It’s a bit of a rocky road," he said in an interview on the Today programme.

“The odds of a no-deal Brexit have certainly increased in recent months. The key is going to be whatever happens, what happens at the borders, what happens in the ports and importantly what happens to the pound sterling when it’s all said and done,” he said.

A string of car makers with factories in the UK have issued similar warnings.

In a pointed rebuke to Boris Johnson’s Brexit strategy, the British car industry said this week that, so far as it is concerned, “you can never be ready for no deal”.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), also reported on Wednesday that UK car production in the first half of 2019 is down by a fifth on the same period last year, while investment is at a standstill.

Just £90m was ploughed into new plant and machinery in the first half of 2019 compared to an annual average of £2.5bn and £2.7bn over the past seven years.

The industry has already spent more than £330m on contingency planning for a no-deal Brexit, Mr Hawes said.

Mr Hawes warned that the industry in the UK has already spent more than £330m on contingency planning for a no-deal Brexit, increasing stockpiles of parts, insuring against losses, training staff, investing in additional software and so on.

However, he stressed that nothing can be done to deal with the impact on tariffs on UK exports of cars to the EU, for example, or the massive disruption to seamless “just-in-time” supply chains across the English Channel that the industry relies on.