UK automotive gathers for annual Auto Tech Showcase
Automotive remains a major source of direct and indirect employment in the Coventry and Warwickshire area
The UK motor industry is getting ready to promote the latest vehicle technology at the UK showcase event CENEX Expo 2024.
Based at the Millbrook proving grounds in Bedfordshire, the event is organised by CENEX, an independent non-profit research and technology organisation focusing on low emission transport and associated energy infrastructure. The key themes of the show are around net zero and connected automated mobility for all kinds of vehicles.
The event hosts major vehicle brands like DAF, Ford, Lotus and Toyota, together with technology firms like AVL, Fortescue WAE Randle Engineering, HORBA-MIRA and RLE, and local universities including WMG at the University of Warwick and Coventry University. Invest Coventry & Warwickshire will be there again this year to support and promote the local supply chain and seek to attract investment into the sector from existing brands as well as those new to the UK and the Midlands.
It will be the first opportunity at CENEX to promote the Coventry & Warwick Giga Park, including the anchor battery cell manufacturing Green Power Park. The Investment Zone brings with it a range of incentives to support the set up of new R&D and manufacturing facilities at scale, such as business rates and national and insurance holidays.
Data from Invest Warwickshire shows the impact of manufacturing, and in particular vehicle design, engineering, test and manufacturing, on the city and county and the wider West Midlands. The data includes, for the first time, the retail, repair and wholesale of motor vehicles. The full data will be featured in the next issue of Warwickshire Means Business, but it shows that automotive remains a major source of direct and indirect employment in the area, and makes up a significant percentage of the 780,000 people across Britain, including 182,000 working directly in manufacturing, quoted by automotive trade body SMMT (the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders) as the number employed by the sector.
In addition, the city and county play a major role in supply chains for the wider future mobility sector including aerospace, motorsport, motorcycles, commercial vehicles, off-highway equipment and marine propulsion.
The city and county are home to a dense clustering of automotive and related technology firms, covering every step in the value chain, from concept design, through prototyping and testing and manufacturing and sales, anchored by the presence of more OEM vehicle makers, more than any other similar cluster in Europe.
CENEX Exp 2024 marks the opening of the season of a wide range of vehicle technology events in Autumn/ Winter in Coventry & Warwickshire and the wider West Midlands. These include in September Micromobility UK 2024 at the University of Warwick; in October the Engineering Design Show at the CBS Arena in Coventry and the Advanced Engineering Show at the NEC; in November the Euro Bus Expo, and Motorcycle Live both at the NEC, and the first West Midlands Battery Supply Chain Conference at the MTC in Ansty, and Autosport International 2025 in January at the NEC.
More information on CENEX Expo can be found here, including how to register as a delegate: https://cenex-expo.com/
If you’re at CENEX over the two days September 4th and 5th, and want to find out more about support for future mobility and automotive businesses in Warwickshire and Coventry, come and speak to us on stand C4-301. Invest Coventry & Warwickshire is here to help with soft-landing support for setting up in the local area.