New currency wars  By MARTIN WALKER, UPI Editor Emeritus   |  
Feb. 4, 2013 at 12:07 AM   |   0 comments  PARIS, Feb. 4 (UPI)
-- Ten years ago this week, one British pound bought 1.6 euros.
Today it buys 1.15 euros, which means British exports are
dramatically cheaper and Britain's imports from Europe (and
British vacations in Europe) are very much more expensive.
There could hardly be better news for Britain's beleaguered
exporters and the shift in exchange rates helps explain why the
country's car manufacturing broke all-time export records in
2012, with more than 1 million cars sent overseas out of the 1.5
million made.  And with some $10 billion of new investments in
the pipeline from Nissan, BMW and Jaguar-Land Rover, production
should top 2 million in 2016. It is noteworthy that this
performance took place against a dramatic fall in car sales in
Europe, with last month saw 15 percent drop in French
registrations to their lowest January level since 1997. Italian
sales dropped 17.6 percent.  By contrast