British car production falls for eighth month in a row

The commercialized relation recovered UK factories made 15.3% less cars successful October this twelvemonth than October 2023.

It recovered 670,346 units were produced successful the UK betwixt January and October 2024, 10.8% little than during the aforesaid play successful 2023.

The driblet was chiefly owed to a autumn successful exports, the SMMT said.

These are profoundly concerning times for the automotive industry

Mike Hawes, SMMT main executive

It added that the existent marketplace for caller cars is anemic successful the UK and European Union, with the EU marketplace rising by conscionable 0.7% betwixt January and October this year.

The fig of cars produced for home usage roseate by 5.3% but fell by 14.8% for exports successful the archetypal 10 months of 2024 versus past twelvemonth – equivalent to 89,095 less cars being shipped overseas.

The commercialized relation said its caller figures came arsenic plants continued “their retooling to alteration accumulation of the adjacent procreation of zero emanation vehicles”.

Around a 3rd of the cars made successful Britain successful October this twelvemonth were artillery electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid electric, it added.

Mike Hawes, SMMT main executive, said: “These are profoundly concerning times for the automotive industry, with monolithic investments successful plants and caller zero emanation products nether aggravated pressure.

“Slowdowns successful the planetary marketplace – particularly for EVs (electric vehicles) – are impacting accumulation output, with the concern successful the UK peculiarly acute fixed we person arguably the toughest targets and astir accelerated timeline but without the user incentives indispensable to thrust demand.

“The outgo of stimulating that request and complying with those targets is immense and, arsenic we are seeing, unsustainable.

“Urgent enactment is truthful needed and we volition enactment with Government connected its accelerated reappraisal of the regularisation and the improvement of an ambitious and broad concern strategy to guarantee our competitiveness.”

The latest figures person “downgraded expectations for UK car and airy van production”, the SMMT said.

Manufacturers announced much than £20 cardinal worthy of concern past twelvemonth to thrust their modulation to EV production, a monolithic sum demonstrating the industry’s committedness to nett zero

SMMT

British factories are present expected to crook retired astir 911,000 vehicles this twelvemonth and 839,000 successful 2025 – astir a 3rd little than the astir 1.4 cardinal cars and airy vans made successful 2019 earlier the Covid pandemic, it forecast.

The SMMT said: “Manufacturers announced much than £20 cardinal worthy of concern past twelvemonth to thrust their modulation to EV production, a monolithic sum demonstrating the industry’s committedness to nett zero.

“If planned UK zero emanation exemplary launches enactment connected way and user request improves, determination is imaginable to get supra 1 cardinal units successful 2028.

“If not, output would stay beneath 1 cardinal units until 2030, and successful a worst-case script driblet to less than 750,000 should plants adjacent and others person reduced exemplary line-ups, which would person a devastating effect connected the sector, jobs and economical growth.”

It added: “Ensuring the UK remains a globally competitory determination for precocious conveyance manufacturing, therefore, requires an concern and commercialized strategy that works for the assemblage and, successful addition, a steadfast home market, fixed car makers physique adjacent to wherever they sell.

“Government indispensable enactment successful concern with manufacture to present marketplace regulations that enactment consumers and industry, including measures to code the UK’s precocious outgo of vigor and the signing of commercialized deals built connected escaped and just trade.”