Shaping automotive: What’s the role of the CBI?
This week, Autotrader’s podcast ‘Women in the driving seat’ welcomes Rain Newton‑Smith, Chief Executive of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), for a wide‑ranging and timely conversation on leadership, policy and the future of the automotive sector.
Episode 27 of the Autotrader podcast Women in the driving seat, hosted by Editorial Director, award-winning motoring journalist Erin Baker is released today. The series aims to rip up the rule book on the female-empowerment narrative by sharing personal as well as professional experiences, examining the space where both collide, and the challenges, fears and successes happen.
This episode considers how the CBI bridges the gap between politicians and business owners, exploring how their goals differ from each other as well as where they align. Erin and Rain also discuss the automotive industry, the challenges facing the sector and its decarbonisation progress so far. The discussion goes on to explore key leadership qualities for the CEO of the CBI as well as the importance of perspective, purpose and energy in any role.
All episodes in the series feature a Podcast Pit Stop – a quick fire round covering the professional and personal including; Green growth or Donut economics? Beach or Mountain? Treasury or Department of Business and Trade? Iron on or sew in?
Join Erin as she puts a business leader in the driving seat.
Podcast preview
Rain Newton-Smith:
“You've got to deal with the world as it is, not the world you wish it would be ... we've got to be optimistic about the future of the UK.”
"Strongly held views but held lightly...always being curious is such an important quality.”
“At the CBI we’ve got experience of working with civil servants, working with politicians from across all parties. I think we’re able to be that translation piece between how business leaders see the world and the world in which politicians have to operate.”
“The automotive industry has been at the crosshairs of so many of our recent challenges.”
“As economists we’ve always worried about a trade war, but never actually thought it would happen and now we see it unfolding in front of our eyes.”
“A seismic change [in automotive] is the move to electric and the decarbonisation of the economy.”
“In the UK over the next decade, 80% of the decarbonisation we need to see in our economy is outside of the energy sector.”
“Our [UK] passenger vehicles are almost ahead of the curve from some of our other forms of transport in moving towards EVs.”
“The government is introducing legislation around changed in employment rights and how those will impact businesses, but also their voice being heard.”
“We’re already seeing the UK’s being successful in that one out of every five new cars that are being sold are electric vehicles.”
“The challenge that our industry [manufacturing] is facing is there are quotas that are imposed on the industry in terms of how much they need to produce.”
"One of the things that we do need to focus on is making sure we have enough charging points, that we’ve thought about the availability of those charging points. I think what we’re seeing is we’ve started to resolve some of those issues.”
“The more we can invest in the infrastructure we need the more we can help consumers have to confidence to make the transition.”
“You can only lead through hope and confidence... So I definitely think I’m a pragmatic optimist.”
“Economists are quite good at navigating uncertainty. We’re used to building scenarios and not just thinking about what will happen tomorrow but [thinking about] what are some of the uncertainties?”
“When you are leading teams, and when you're leading any organisation, its about building a diverse team. Its about creating a sense of purpose. Its about being able to communicate what you do to politicians, to the media and to your members.”
[As CEO] “You absolutely have to be a good communicator , but you really have to listen. Someone said ‘Strongly held views, but held lightly’ .”
“You should always get nervous... Its what gives you that energy – And you get nervous because it matters.”
“We’ve all had moments in a day where things become overwhelming”
“Someone once said to me, particularly in a moment that is more challenging, look – this too will be the rear mirror”
“Its also understanding when your own personal energy gets low, its knowing what you need to do to recharge it”
Remember to recharge yourself. The answer – maybe its just a case of watching Race across the world with your kids.
Notes to editors
ABOUT ERIN BAKER
Erin Baker is an award-winning motoring journalist and Editorial Director of Auto Trader. She writes a monthly driving column for Vogue, is a World Car of the Year judge, consults for Goodwood and hosts She's Electric, a national roadshow bringing women and electric cars together. Erin is passionate about narrowing the gender gap, both in the automotive industry itself and between car brands and female consumers, through more targeted language, marketing and experiences. She is a single mother of two boys.
ABOUT AUTOTRADER
Autotrader Group plc is the UK’s largest automotive platform. It listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2015 and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index.
Autotrader’s purpose is Driving Change Together. Responsibly. Autotrader is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive culture, it aims to build stronger partnerships with its customers and use its voice and influence to drive more environmentally friendly vehicle choices.
With the largest number of car buyers and the largest choice of trusted stock, Autotrader’s marketplace sits at the heart of the UK car buying process. That marketplace is built on an industry-leading technology and data platform, which is increasingly used across the automotive industry. Autotrader is continuing to bring more of the car buying journey online, creating an improved buying experience, whilst enabling all its retailer partners to sell vehicles online.
Autotrader publishes a monthly used car Retail Price Index which is based on pricing analysis of circa 800,000 unique vehicles. The same data that powers the Index is used by the Office for National Statistics to make the UK’s official measures of inflation more robust, as well as the Bank of England to feed the broader UK economic indicators.
For more information, please visit: plc.autotrader.co.uk
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