German auto industry warns Brexit could lead to production shift

FRANKFURT, June 23 (Reuters) - Germany's auto industry on Thursday warned that a potential trade dispute between Europe and Britain in the aftermath of a Brexit could put British production sites at risk.

"We all hope the vote is in favour of remain. The German auto industry alone has 100 production sites in Britain including suppliers," Matthias Wissmann, president of Germany's Auto Industry Association VDA, told a news conference on Thursday.

"If there were a trade conflict between Britain and the European Union, the damage would be enormous for everybody," Wissmann explained, saying he hoped for a "remain" vote.

"It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) would be a serious setback for the industry and would surely result in some production sites relocating."

The VDA represents companies including BMW (Swiss: BMW.SW - news) , Daimler (LSE: 0NXX.L - news) , Bosch (BSE: BOSCHLTD.BO - news) , Continental (Swiss: CONT.SW - news) and Volkswagen (LSE: 0P6N.L - news) .

"We would have enormous challenges to overcome if Brexit wins. I hope common sense prevails," Wissmann said.

(Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach, writing by Edward Taylor; Editing by Georgina Prodhan)