While the cost of motoring is a challenge to a great many people, there are a few things when it comes to cars that are extremely affordable – and no, we’re not talking about European breakdown cover from startrescue.co.uk – we mean NedCar, the Dutch car factory owned by Mitsubishi.
The Japanese carmaker has said that NedCar is up for grabs for a mere one euro, providing any buyer can pay the wages of the 1,500 strong workers. Even with this not insubstantial proviso, being able to buy a complete car manufacturing facility for less than a pound is a bargain.
The trouble is that Europe isn’t a great place to build cars at present – especially if, like Mitsubishi did – you plan to sell such cars to Europeans. And that, of course, is because of the eurozone (and wider European) crisis, affecting how much money people have in their pockets.
Any company willing to take on NedCar should have emerging economies such as India and China (particularly the latter) in its sights, since this is where the middle classes are growing by the week. Such groups do love cars, especially the variety that boosts their status.
With luck, a buyer with a workable plan will make an offer on the NedCar plant, thus saving many jobs and helping to keep production car manufacturing alive in the Netherlands.