Subs exclusive: Chinese brands spark car industry recruitment crisis

French, German and Italian brands started the process in the 1960s and 1970s when they moved in to challenge the dominance of British Leyland and Ford in the UK market, and the Japanese and Koreans continued the pattern in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. In short, install a chairman from the board at company HQ to oversee the new UK operation and link with main board directors, and then recruit locally for the best talent in sales, service and other specialist functions.

The Chinese, however, are facing very different post Covid employment market conditions. A second wave of perhaps six new brands is set to hit the UK market in the next three or so years as Britain pivots towards EVs, a strong area for Chinese car makers.

As well as Nio, expected arrivals include Great Wall, with its Ora Cat EV; Aiways, with its U5 electric SUV; and Xpeng, which has the P5, a Tesla Model 3 rival. There’s also Changan, which already has an engine design facility in Nottingham, and WM Motor, with its EX6 SUV.

“There are very different circumstances now, though,” said Ennis. “The car industry is shifting to battery-electric and expertise in data services is emerging at the cutting edge, so executives with experience in the EV world and data software are in the top three areas where shortages are most acute – and they are in demand from other industries.”

It isn’t just a UK issue. Manpower Group, the world’s third-biggest staffing company, publishes an annual employment outlook survey. Its most recent report says the global skills shortage is the largest for 16 years.

So how do new OEM entrants make headway in the UK? One possible strategic shortcut for the second wave of Chinese OEMs would be to acquire an established dealer group or distributor for its top expertise, although there is no sign of this happening yet.

If recruiting local talent for a ground-up operation, Ennis suggests finding staff who have flexible skills that can be transferred from one specialist area to another – what she terms ‘duplicating’. Another solution is to look more flexibly at filling specialist posts by, for example, finding the top talent and offering shorterterm contracts. That might be more expensive, but it takes away the problem of longterm commitment and staff retention. An important strategic move, meanwhile, might be to locate away from the Midlands, where automotive skills shortages are already acute.

At the operational or technical level, reskilling is an option, whereby staff with expertise in traditional engineering are moved across to the electrical and battery electric technology areas. “The most highly skilled people won’t be applying to job adverts”, added Ennis. “They aren’t sitting around, on the market, looking.”

Lotus, which is controlled by Geely, has been grappling with the challenge of growing its workforce. In September, Lotus will be five years under Geely majority ownership, during which time the workforce has roughly doubled to 1500. Posts have been filled in some cases from Europe but more usually from UK rivals in the Midlands, such as Jaguar Land Rover, which has shed staff in cost-cutting moves.

What Lotus hasn’t done is a mass import of Chinese staff, instead limiting a few key roles to Geely board-level people and specialists such as translators, while keeping the flavour of the company British.

“We are proud of our heritage and will protect and nurture it very firmly,” said one insider. Amid a tough employment market and the upheaval of electrification, finding the best staff to launch new car operations in the UK will stretch China’s fabled entrepreneurial spirit to the limit.