It's green, bulging and intimidating.
asserted
It → bulge → ?
Ford's latest vehicle looks like a pick-up truck that has been through an Incredible Hulk transformation.
asserted
that → look → transformation
Based on its popular Ranger series, this beefy number parked outside the front door of Ford's Dagenham plant can carry a load of two tonnes, tow up to four tonnes and is also shouldering the hopes of the 2,000-strong workforce that still makes engines here.
asserted
that → base → engines
Inside the factory, the three-litre diesel engines that will power this camo-painted beast drift down a production line that has seen output cut from 90,000 engines a year to about half that over the last decade.
asserted
output → power → decade
Ford is hoping that a pivot towards military vehicles can help fill the void created by what the company's UK boss calls the most challenging environment since the invention of the motor car.
asserted
boss → hop → car
Once mighty, the European car industry is starting to look puny and is hoping surging defence budgets as Europe re-arms can help it flex its industrial muscles once more.
asserted
it → start → muscles
Ford is part of a joint venture with defence specialists General Dynamics and Ricardo bidding for a Ministry of Defence (MoD) contract to supply 9,000 vehicles over the next five to seven years to replace the Army's ageing Land Rover-based fleet.
asserted
specialists → bid → fleet
Lisa Brankin, chair of Ford UK, says it is a chance to showcase their abilities to respond quickly to defence needs:
asserted
it → say → needs
"As a manufacturer you look at every opportunity that comes at you and this is a great opportunity that we would love to take advantage of."
asserted
we → look → advantage
This is not the first time Ford has busied itself with defence work.
asserted
Ford → busy → work
When war broke out, civilian car assembly stopped completely, and the factory was converted entirely to military production.
asserted
factory → break → production
Between 1939 and 1945, the Dagenham plant built 360,000 vehicles for the Allied war effort.
asserted
plant → build → effort
Ford workers in Manchester manufactured 34,000 Rolls-Royce-designed Merlin engines, which powered Spitfires and Hurricane fighter planes.
asserted
which → manufacture → Spitfires
Eighty years later, the UK and European car industries are hoping that the engines of war can help defend against what one supplier told the BBC was a "terminal decline".
asserted
supplier → hop → BBC
As Europe feels compelled to commit hundreds of billions to ramp up defence spending in the face of the menace from Russia and US reluctance to be Europe's protector, car makers that are under commercial attack from Chinese rivals have taken notice.
asserted
that → compel → notice
So can the rearmament of Europe save an auto industry and a supply chain facing crisis?
asserted
rearmament → save → crisis
The shift to defence
Ford is far from the only car company that sees defence as a growth industry - and one that can utilise the growing overcapacity at car plants across Europe.
asserted
that → see → Europe
French car maker Renault has signed a strategic agreement with defence giant Thales to produce military drones - targeting an output of up to 1,000 units per month.
asserted
Renault → sign → month
The French military and Directorate General for Armament want to tap into Renault's mass-production capabilities to bypass traditional, slower defence supply chains.
asserted
military → want → chains
Meanwhile, Volkswagen has agreed to sell an under-used factory in Osnabruck, western Germany, which will become a military manufacturing hub in a joint venture with an Israeli-based defence investor.
asserted
which → agree → investor
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which makes the Land Rover, is also bidding for the same contract as Ford - as the Army retires its existing Land Rover-based fleet by 2030.
asserted
Army → make → 2030
JLR has also established a new dedicated business unit to support its global military ambitions.
asserted
JLR → establish → ambitions
It makes sense for under-utilised auto manufacturing capacity to switch to defence, says Mike Hawes of the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) trade association.
asserted
Hawes → make → association
And Hawes says the supply chain is very vulnerable.
asserted
chain → say → ?
"UK automotive output has been in decline over the last eight or nine years," he says.
asserted
he → say → years
Now, that's obviously going to hit the supply chain because they're not making the same number of parts.
asserted
they → go → parts
So they've got capacity.
asserted
they → get → capacity
"
So they will welcome "the opportunity to broaden their customer base and potentially move into defence", he says.
asserted
he → welcome → defence
Just two weeks ago, JLR announced it was cutting 4,000 jobs from its 30,000-strong UK workforce in order to reduce costs to stay competitive with international – particularly Chinese – rivals.
asserted
it → announce → rivals
Dave Roberts of the firm Evtec, which supplies cooling systems components to JLR, is worried about the implications of this.
asserted
which → supply → this
"JLR is the critical mass in the UK automotive manufacturing space," he says.
asserted
he → say → space
"It is the glue that holds the whole of the sector together.
asserted
that → hold → sector
Because remember, when you're making volumes for JLR, they're significantly higher than any other car maker in the UK.
asserted
they → remember → UK
"If they suffer, the ripples run deeper through the supply chain."
Earlier this week, major JLR suppliers urged the government to help automotive manufacturers move into aerospace and defence, warning that large-scale car production in the UK faces long-term decline.
asserted
production → suffer → decline
In an open letter to the prime minister, chancellor and West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker, industry leaders argued Britain's automotive supply chain was "not in decline" but "in the wrong market".
asserted
chain → argue → market
The letter was signed by executives representing businesses with more than 8,600 direct employees, alongside the Confederation of British Metalforming, which represents about 75,000 workers.
asserted
which → sign → workers
Signatories to the letter said the redundancies were "the first visible crack" in a UK automotive supply chain supporting about 183,000 manufacturing jobs.
asserted
redundancies → say → jobs
Across Europe, the industry is facing what Sigrid de Vries, director general of the ACEA auto industry manufacturers' association called "a perfect storm".
asserted
Vries → face → association
Car makers are spending billions to shift to electric vehicles and insist that government sales targets for EVs are outpacing consumer demand.
asserted
targets → spend → demand
And the EVs people are buying are increasingly from the biggest new threat to the industry – China.
asserted
people → buy → industry
…and 50 more, not listed.
The Aporia
