Obituary: Nick Reilly – automotive business legend

Tributes have poured in following the death of legendary UK and global motor industry boss and proud Welshman Nick Reilly, who fought a valiant battle to keep Vauxhall car production in Britain – including foregoing his £160,000 a year salary.

The former senior Vauxhall and General Motors executive famously joined the motor industry after ‘finding himself’ and his chosen path following a prolonged period of hermit-like contemplation during a hippy-like mountain top retreat.

He died on Friday June 7 after a long illness, aged 74, leaving behind his wife Susie, three grown-up children and six grandchildren.

Even in an industry packed with characters, Nick Reilly was a far cry from your average ‘car guy’ – being an eclectic, entertaining and convivial mix of Welsh, Old Harrovian, Cambridge graduate, and father of three, who was also passionate about his national rugby team and enjoyed a good pint.

He was also highly respected, equally among motor industry executives, journalists and trade union leaders with whom he was often engaged in fraught negotiations.

Born in Anglesey, North Wales, Reilly was a pupil at the prestigious Harrow School, and studied economics and engineering at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, before moving into a career in stockbroking.

By the age of 24 he was feeling restless and unfulfilled. So he climbed a mountain in Llangollen in Denbighshire, and spent four winter months in a cottage ‘sorting my life out’.

He remembered: ‘It was the best thing I ever did. I decided stockbroking was not what I wanted to do with my life.

‘It was six miles to the nearest habitation. I came down every two weeks to play rugby and stock up on food.

‘I grew a beard and long hair. I read a lot of books. I probably did more academic work than I did at Cambridge.’

His future, he decided, lay in manufacturing.

Reilly began his career with the car giant in 1975 at the former UK-based Detroit Diesel Allison Division.

He then started his steady rise through the GM ranks in Belgium, the US, Mexico, and GM Europe’s Zurich headquarters.

He was appointed chairman and managing director of Vauxhall in 1996, becoming a GM vice-president the following year.

As chairman of Vauxhall in April 1998 Reilly gave up his basic salary of £160,000 for a year as a sign of his commitment to keeping the firm in Britain. In a letter to 10,000 employees of Vauxhall’s two UK factories at Ellesmere Port, Merseyside, and Luton, Bedfordshire, he also announced that nine other company directors were to have their salaries frozen for a year as a ‘personal commitment’ to the future of the company as talks aimed at securing a new pay and working practices package were under way.

From 2002, the Welshman oversaw GM’s takeover and restructuring of Korea’s Daewoo. He was president of GM Asia Pacific from July 2006.

After years living in Asia, he claimed with a twinkle in his eye that there were parts of downtown Seoul where off-duty GM workers and executives toast ‘iechyd da’ – Welsh for cheers – thanks to his socialising influence.

He retired in 2011 but maintained strong advisory links with the motor industry he loved, and recently made a visit – at his request – to the revamped Ellesmere Port factory in Cheshire which played such a significant role in his career.

Ultimately passenger car production did cease at Vauxhall’s Luton and Ellesmere Port – following decisions taken in Detroit by Vauxhall’s previous owners General Motors – but both factories live on and are thriving as centres of commercial vehicle and electric van production under new owners Stellantis, which owns Vauxhall, Citroen, Peugeot and FIAT, Jeep and Alfa Romeo.

Reilly confessed to having no appetite for closing factories or ending car production telling me: ‘Once in a lifetime is enough.’

A very proud Welshman, David Nicholas Reilly was born on December 17, 1949, in Trearddur Bay, Anglesey.

His grandfather built and ran The Beach Hotel in Trearddur Bay, where he and his mother were born and where he grew up after his parents took over control.

He attended the nearby Trearddur House prepararatory school as a boarder and from there, he was awarded a scholarship to Harrow School, gaining a place at Cambridge University to read engineering, before switching after his first year to economics.

After working for a few years as a stock broker in Manchester and Birmingham he embarked on his now famous break to ‘find himself’ in a primitive and remote croft in the North Wales mountains near Llangollen.

From there, he applied for a job as financial analyst for Detroit Diesel Allison, who, at that time, had a factory in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, after which his career at US-owned General Motors took off.

He met his wife Susie, a teacher, while at the Wellingborough plant and, after a life of globetrotting – and a few prolongued stints in the UK – retired to Brixham, Devon in 2014 but moved to Pulborough, Sussex last year, to be closer to their family.

The couple have three grown children – Tasha, George and Jessica – and six grandchildren.

Tributes have poured in

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers Traders (SMMT), of which Reilly was a past president, led the tributes.

He said: ‘Nick was one of the leading figures of the automotive industry, not just in the UK but globally, empowered with running a wide range of businesses.

‘We were fortunate to have him as SMMT President from 2001, a term of office regrettably cut short as he was transferred to Korea.

‘He was always incredibly insightful, able to boil complex problems into simple questions, something he did with patience and good humour.

‘More recently, however, he has been a guiding figure both in an advisory capacity to the SMMT and as a Trustee of the SMMT Charitable Trust Fund, committed to getting younger people into the industry he loved. He will be missed by many in the industry and our thoughts are with his family and friends.’

Bill Parfitt, former Vauxhall chairman under previous owners General Motors, said: ‘Nick was an industry great – a great innovator and leader who pioneered the first online vehicle sales for Vauxhall Motors. He was instrumental in bringing in many new models ton Ellesmere Port and Luton.’

Former Vauxhall and GM Daewoo PR Denis Chick said: ‘Nick never lost sight of the UK market and was insistent on us taking groups of media to Korea, personally hosted by him, to ensure that the product was well understood back at home.

‘Even after he’d lost the battle to retain car manufacturing in Luton, his commitment to GM never faltered. Nick was a true gentleman, an astute business man and, as a proud Welshman, a life long supporter of Welsh rugby, his passion for which never waned.’

Another ex-Vauxhall PR Tom Malcom said: ‘Nick was a great automotive enthusiast and a very talented leader – both for the company and the industry.’

Motor industry executive and former Aston Martin CEO Dr Andy Palmer described him as ‘a giant of the automotive industry’.

Auto Express editor Paul Barker praised ‘a real automotive figurehead’.

The Guild of Motoring Writers praised ‘a one of a kind motor industry leader whose genuine warmth and automotive leadership touched many lives.’