Car part companies across Shropshire and Mid Wales are in crisis with order books down as much as 60 per cent, it was revealed today.

The automotive component industry, which employs thousands of people across the region, is struggling to survive as car makers across the globe slash production.

About a million people in the UK work in the automotive industry, for suppliers, manufacturers and dealers, contributing about £10 billion to the UK economy.

But the industry has fallen further and faster than any other during the credit crunch as financing dried up which had allowed customers to buy new cars.

Industry figures showed production in December last year at barely half the level of December 2007.

About 20 companies in Shropshire and Mid Wales support the car industry and many have already announced waves of redundancies and cost-cutting measures.

Bosses at some of the county’s major manufacturers today revealed they can see no possibility of a return to the boom order books of 2007, meaning further job losses could be on the way.

Two established car component firms in Telford have already shut down. Hutchinson, which made rubber door seals, closed its doors with the loss of 130 jobs and Plastic Omnium, which manufactured car bumpers in Halesfield, shut down in 2007.

And now major county names of GKN, Stadco, Denso and Ogihara are also cutting shifts and looking at various restructuring options including redundancies.