Once upon a time, the West Midlands led the world in car manufacturing with carmakers such as Austin, Morris, Rover, Wolseley, Riley, MG and countless others concentrating their manufacturing efforts in the region.
These days, sadly, much of Britain's once proud motor industry is gone. All of Britain's mass-market manufacturers are now either defunct or foreign-owned and the vast majority of cars bought and sold in the UK are built overseas.
However, in recent years the British motor industry -- and the Midlands in particular -- is undergoing something of a resurgence. More than a million cars have been built in the UK so far this year, and companies such as Nissan, Toyota, Jaguar Land Rover and MINI are all investing in British manufacturing. Put simply, the British motor industry is in the best shape it has been for years.
All of which brings us onto this: the Black Country Bullet. Unveiled at the Advanced Engineering Show at the NEC in Birmingham, the Bullet is a virtual supercar which is designed to showcase the automotive sector skills and expertise of companies in the Black Country.
Although the Bullet is a purely digital creation which is highly unlikely ever to see the light of day, the car demonstrates just how much we still make in the UK. 70 per cent of the components which make up the Bullet are sourced from one of the Black Country's 2,000 automotive suppliers. The wheels come from West Bromwich, bits of the engine from Walsall and Wednesbury, the body panels from Oldbury and parts of the interior from Tipton.
Wayne Langford, head of investment at Invest Black Country, said: "The creation of the Black Country Bullet shows that almost an entire car can be built with components, expertise and technology found solely in the Black Country.
"We have twice the number of advanced manufacturing companies than the national average, so our supply chain offers a complete solution to any automotive firm looking to set up shop here. This is a vibrant, diverse and geographically well-connected place to do business."
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