In 1986, I travelled...

In 1986, I travelled on a train I didn"t like to a place I didn"t know for the opening of a car factory I just didn"t get. Nissan building a plant in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, made no sense to me back then. However, it has since proved itself to be one of the most efficient in Europe. Wind forward 21 years, and I"m in another unlikely place, witnessing the formal opening of another, even more impressive motor factory. It could and should have been in the UK. But since our leaders are so blatantly anti-car, Europe"s most impressive vehicle production facility is on Slovakian, not British, soil.

South Koreans have always considered Britain to be the natural home for their European production. But we won"t get a sniffof their billions now

It"s just started churning out the Kia Cee"d at the rate of about one every minute. Within months, other Cee"d derivatives, plus a new Kia 4x4, will be rolling off the line in Slovakia, which has welcomed the South Korean auto giant with open arms... and not-to-be-sneezed-at tax breaks!

I was repeatedly told by directors at the top of Hyundai-Kia in Seoul that the companies always considered Britain to be the natural and obvious home for their European production. The South Koreans view the UK and people as their great friends. We helped them during the Korean War and they"ll never forget that. They love our language, culture, beer and golf courses. And they"d have liked nothing more than to follow Nissan, Honda and Toyota into the UK. Britain was perfectly placed to turn "Japorean" and play host to these and other wealthy, job-creating north-east Asian motor manufacturers. But we blew it.

The UK will not get a whiff of the billions the Hyundai-Kia empire is spending, nor the countless thousands of jobs on offer. The first chunk of these colossal benefits goes to the hugely grateful Slovakia, a country with the same population as, but only about half the area of, Scotland.

Britain is now a decaying rather than a blossoming car-producing nation. Ford and Peugeot have completely withdrawn from car production, Vauxhall has partially pulled out, while TVR, MG and Rover have all been killed off.

I happen to know that Hyundai-Kia is interested in acquiring the Jaguar name and some of its products and designs. But even the prospect of inheriting the entire Big Cat operation and all its Midlands facilities from owner Ford for next to nothing was not enough to tempt the cash-rich South Koreans to come to Blighty, home of the car-hostile politician.

In the same week that Hyundai-Kia chairman Mong-Ku Chung formally opened the already up-and-running, 1billion Euro Kia plant in Slovakia, he popped over to the neighbouring Czech Republic to break the ground where his equally impressive new Hyundai factory will sit. The tide has turned. East/Central Europe/Eurasia has effectively taken over from us as the first choice for big, wealthy north-eastern Asian car firms to invest.

Still, thanks almost entirely to the Japanese in Sunderland, Swindon and Burnaston (with a little help from the Germans in Cowley and Americans at Ellesmere Port), Britain as a car building nation isn"t dead. Then again, it"s not exactly in rude health, either.

As Tony Blair comes to the end of his reign as an anti-car Prime Minister, his legacy will be that on average, at least one major motor brand or factory line died every couple of years during his decade at the helm. And he was so distant from, out of touch with and uninterested in the industry, he probably doesn"t even know or care how much harm has been done to the UK car-producing business under his watch.

Mike Rutherford writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and Independent, presents ITV"s Pulling Power and is founder member of the Motorists" Association

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