(25 Aug 2017) Ford's Dagenham diesel engine plant is a marvel of mechanisation - a steel and chrome hangar full of LED lighting, robots and computer-controlled machine tools.
The US carmaker has invested 2.5 (b) billion US dollars in the plant, where 3,150 people churn out an engine every 30 seconds.
And they've been here a long time: Edsel Ford, son of founder Henry Ford, personally cut the sod to start construction of the company's UK manufacturing headquarters in 1929.
It's hard to imagine Ford would walk away from all that if Britain fails to negotiate a favourable trade deal when it leaves the European Union.
But don't bet on it.
With auto parts passing through as many as 15 countries before a car is completed, a Brexit agreement that results in new tariffs that increase the cost of Ford vehicles for consumers is no small problem.
"It will force us to consider what the longer-term options are for the investments that we make, because let me be clear: We have to transact business in an environment where we can be competitive, and it's that competitive base that we're interested in making sure is protected," said Steven Armstrong, CEO of Ford in Europe.
Britain's car industry, which employs 814,000 people, illustrates the struggle the country faces as it prepares to exit the European Union.
Cars are assembled, not forged in a single place.
Modern manufacturing techniques result in carmakers having plants in several locations, often in different countries, that specialise in producing pieces of the finished vehicle.
For instance, the plant in Dagenham, in east London, makes nothing but diesel engines.
Tariffs, which are virtually non-existent for goods that move from one EU nation to another, are an oversized threat to British carmakers because they could be applied each time those components cross and re-cross international borders on their way to the new car showroom.
British carmakers, and many other industries, want the government to negotiate an agreement that preserves free trade with the EU's single market after Brexit.
Failure to do so could mean that tariffs and quotas are applied according to World Trade Organisation rules, which would make each vehicle more expensive.
The industry relies on Europe as both a market and a supplier, with the EU accounting for 56 percent of UK car exports and 69 percent of imports in 2016, according to the SMMT.
Besides that, Europe supplies the majority of components within UK-built vehicles.
Ford wants to know how the government plans to address this issue - and soon. "It's important that we continue to have access to the European market, free trade and a seamless border really is what we're looking for as we go through the Brexit process," Armstrong told The Associated Press.
Prime Minister Theresa May has repeatedly said that remaining in the single market is not an option, but the government this month outlined its hopes for an agreement that would permit the "freest and most frictionless possible trade" with EU member states.
This could include a temporary customs union with the bloc for up to three years after Britain leaves in 2019 to give businesses time to adjust to the new rules. Negotiations are set to begin again next week.
A transition period may be crucial for carmakers because they will have to adjust to new borders at a time of dramatic change for the industry.
"A significant proportion of the UK supply chain actually sits within the European marketplace," said Darren Jukes, head of the industrial products group at consulting firm PwC.
Plus all they have to do is look around - robots do much of the work.
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