The staging of a car show in the heart of London's Canary Wharf is a potent symbol.
Not only does holding the Motorexpo in Docklands illustrate the dependence of the UK's motor industry on the world of finance; it also points to how the City has become one of its toughest rivals.
What car makers and component suppliers need to thrive are cash and talent.
Both these scarce resources can be found here.
But that is not to say it is easy for industry players to get hold of them.
Stimulating growthCash, or rather investment funding, is often hard to come by for companies in the motor industry, especially for parts suppliers or dealers that are often relatively small.
This is a challenge Paul Everitt, chief executive of motor-industry body SMMT, has been keen to tackle for some time.
"Improving access to finance and credit has the potential to stimulate growth in UK automotive's small and medium-sized companies, enabling them to develop facilities, tooling and machinery to take advantage of broader automotive growth," he says.
"By achieving competitive funding for UK businesses, the UK can take a larger share of the components market."
Talent, meanwhile, is also in short supply, not least because many of the best engineers in the UK are snapped up by City firms, according to Nick Pascoe, who runs Controlled Power Technologies, a relatively small technology company specialising in petrol-electric hybrid solutions for the motor industry.
"All of the motor industry is crying out for good-quality engineers," he says. "But many of them are only too happy to come to Canary Wharf and get into finance instead."
Mutual benefitsRichard Hill is among those who have chosen to work in banking rather than the motor industry.
Four years ago, at the height of the credit crunch when the car industry was in dire straits, he left the sector to join Royal Bank of Scotland.
But his departure was no desertion.
Rather, the task he was given was simple: help the bank understand the motor industry, to make it possible to provide finance for struggling dealers and component makers.
"The way the motor industry is structured and driven, it is a challenging environment to lend to," Mr Hill says, pointing to how the sector is capital intensive, generally offers low returns, and how debt levels are generally restricted by companies' balance sheets, which are often far from healthy.
But at the same time, there are plenty of opportunities for those in the know.
For instance, many suppliers or dealers say banks often take too long to make decisions, a particular difficulty for a sector as nimble as this, according to a report by The Smith Institute, published late last year.
"When you don't have an understanding of the business, those opportunities could be missed," says Mr Hill.
Similarly, the motor industry would benefit from a broader view of the finance options that are available.
"It's not just about traditional debt, such as overdrafts or loans," he says.
For example, structured finance products can be used to fund acquisitions or mergers, trade finance can help a component supplier expand internationally, while stock finance can help a dealer ensure there are enough cars in the showroom.
"Things have changed, or are changing, or could change if we work harder to understand each other," Mr Hill says.
"We need to bring the two worlds closer together."
Drug Money From Mexico Makes Its Way to the Racetrack - New York Times
Yet in September 2010, a beaming band of men waving Mexican flags and miniature piñatas swept into Ruidoso, N.M., to claim the million-dollar prize with a long-shot colt named Mr. Piloto.
Leading the revelry at the track was Mr. Piloto’s owner, José Treviño Morales, 45, a self-described brick mason who had grown up poor in Mexico. Across the border, Ramiro Villarreal, an affable associate who had helped acquire the winning colt, celebrated at a bar with friends.
As for the man who made the whole day possible, Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, he was living on the run, one of the most wanted drug traffickers in the world.
Mr. Treviño, a younger brother of José Treviño, is second in command of Mexico’s Zetas drug trafficking organization. Thin with a furrowed brow, he has become the organization’s lead enforcer — infamous for dismembering his victims while they are still alive.
The race was one of many victories for the Treviño brothers, who managed to establish a prominent horse breeding operation in the United States, Tremor Enterprises, that allowed them to launder millions of dollars in drug money, according to current and former federal law enforcement officials. The operation amounted to a foothold in the United States for one of Mexico’s most dangerous criminal networks, the officials said.
Using Miguel Ángel Treviño’s cash, José Treviño’s legal residency and Mr. Villarreal’s eye for a good horse, Tremor bought a sprawling ranch in Oklahoma and an estimated 300 stallions and mares. The Treviño brothers might have kept their operation quiet, given the criminal connection, but their passion for horses and winning apparently proved too tempting. In the short span of three years, Tremor won three of the industry’s biggest races, with prizes totaling some $2.5 million.
The Justice Department moved against Tremor on Tuesday morning, sending several helicopters and hundreds of law enforcement agents to the company’s stables in Ruidoso and its ranch in Oklahoma. José Treviño, his wife and five associates were taken into custody later in the day, and a total of 15 people were charged, the authorities said.
Miguel Ángel Treviño, 38, and another brother, Omar, 36, were among those charged. They remain at large in Mexico. Omar Treviño is also a high-ranking member of the Zetas, and an F.B.I. affidavit filed in United States District Court describes him as participating in the money laundering.
The affidavit said the Zetas funneled about $1 million a month into buying quarter horses in the United States. The authorities were tipped off to Tremor’s activities in January 2010, when the Zetas paid more than $1 million in a single day for two broodmares, the affidavit said.
The New York Times became aware of Tremor’s activities in December 2011 while reporting on the Zetas. The Times learned of the government’s investigation last month and agreed to hold back this article until Tuesday morning’s arrests.
The business was “so far out there it’s hard to believe,” said Morris Panner, a former prosecutor who handled drug cases. “Maybe they were using some kind of perverse logic that told them they could hide in plain sight, precisely because people wouldn’t believe it or question it.”
The Treviño brothers devised an elaborate scheme in which Mexican businessmen paid for the horses — some of them worth hundreds of thousands of dollars — from their own bank accounts so the purchases would appear legitimate, according to the affidavit. The Zetas would later reimburse the businessmen, and the horses’ ownership would be transferred to Tremor. The brothers’ activities on either side of the border made for a stark contrast. One week in May began with the authorities pointing fingers at Miguel Ángel Treviño for dumping the bodies of 49 people — without heads, hands or feet — in garbage bags along a busy highway in northern Mexico. The week concluded with José Treviño fielding four Tremor horses in a prestigious race at Los Alamitos Race Course, near Los Angeles.
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