News : UK set to build 1.5 million cars in 2013

Evoque production line

AROnline understands that, according to data revealed by the SMMT for the end of November, UK car manufacturing is rapidly reaching the 1.5 million landmark. 

Car production rose 4.5% in first 11 months of year to 1,424,023 units, which means that 2013 output in the UK is set to pass the 1.5 million unit mark for first time in six years. The recovery of the UK car manufacturing has been a remarkable success story during the past three years, with the motor industry also providing serious assistance to our overall balance of trade, as exports are at their highest levels.

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), November has seen an output dip of 3.6%, which can be explained by the preparation for new model production at several UK production sites sites during the month.

‘With output up 4.5% in 2013 to-date, UK car manufacturing is on track to pass 1.5 million units this year, the best performance since 2007,’ said Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive. ‘The forthcoming new models will play an integral part in what is predicted to be an even stronger 2014 for UK car manufacturing.’

 

Car manufacturing

Nov-12

Nov-13

% Change

YTD-12

YTD-13

% Change

Total

142,825

137,624

-3.6%

1,363,166

1,424,023

4.5%

Home

21,522

21,714

0.9%

236,099

293,292

24.2%

Export

121,303

115,910

-4.4%

1,127,067

1,130,731

0.3%

% export

84.9%

84.2%

82.7%

79.4%

Keith Adams

20 Comments

  1. Great news! I’d like to see German cars being made here next- we could make them more reliable and wages are lower here…..

  2. Very good news indeed and it shows that the car assembly plants here in the UK are well and truly building cars that people want to go and buy without manufacturers having to stockpile them.

  3. Perhaps the government will finally start to understand how important manufacuring is to an economy. It’s just a shame they didn’t realise it before the demise of much of our domestic car industry.

  4. Approx. 300,000 of this years total will be MINI’s again mostly built in Oxford. 🙂

    “Sales of the MINI drove up 5.8pc last year (2012)to 301,526, with sales of the Mini Coupé rising to 11,311 units, almost tripling the volume recorded a year earlier. Last year’s tally marks the second-highest figure ever recorded, eclipsed only by the 318,475 notched up by the classic Mini in 1971, according to The Sunday Times.”
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/9935859/Mini-accelerates-to-new-sales-record.html

  5. It’s not quite “Riley releases exciting new model” and “Wolseley set to beat previous sales records” but I’m sure most of us old boys are just pleased that we have an industry, we have jobs and we have cars that people want.
    I believe that BMW’s (other than the MINI of course) sell on 50% aspiration and 49% sheer snobbery – the remaining 1% attributed to ‘engineers’ who believe they are buying the best. I think we are just fine importing the wretched things without building them here too! Where’s that smiley face on this darned I Pad?
    Dam! Now I’ve lost all my mates!

  6. Its remarkable how many cars are exported, we are not trapped in the French and Italian cycle of over reliance on our home market. Just Great news. Who knows what will happen when Europe recovers and they start buying in real numbers again.

  7. Amazing how things have changed since the end of the likes of Ford car production at Dagenham, the end of MGRover, the closure of Vauxhall production at Luton etc. Who would have thought that British car production could boom again, albeit under Foreign ownership/

    Good news indeed…

  8. BL seemed to get stuck with relying too much on home sales, & letting too many key export markets easy pickings for the far eastern makers.

    Also ironic that Renault & Fiat at one time made a big effort to get their cars exports & founded many overseas factories to deal with it.

    Still it’s very good news, it shows how getting production management & marketing sorted can help things.

  9. If we let more Poles and then Romanians and Bulgarians come here wages will get even lower- who knows maybe Dacias will be built here next.
    True nuff Doctor D, the very successful Mini is built here (why they are I don’t understand, do they still have speedometers in the middle of the dashboard?) It would tickle me to see a ‘real’ Bimmer made here and then sold to some EU beaurocrat or German banker.

  10. Well done UK makers, but it would be nice to see: a locally grown, well-made, small to medium hatch that I can buy?

    It seems we are good at niche products but not so bright at mass-market ones?

    The current Astra, Civic and Auris are way off the class leaders

  11. No one will buy Hondas; they are far better than VAG cars. Some people would drive a skip if it had an Audi or VW badge upon it. Honda produce techno space-ships which stodgy Brits are afraid of.

  12. This is good news and especially for places like Sunderland, where Nissan now employ 7000 staff and sell every car they make. Also problems such as poor quality, weak management and strikes are distant memories and British cars are now as desirable as those from Germany and Sweden.

  13. It’s just a shame that Rover isn’t in the mix now as had they stayed with BAE and used more Honda technology, they could have been a major player, and almost beat their demons in the early nineties. I still see a few 400s and 600s now, which proves these were good cars.

  14. @14 Oh yes Indeed noticed that 🙂 having suffered an FN2 Civic for 4 years.

    That was plagued with electrical issues and shoddy cheap build materials

    The Two VW Golfs I had before that were flawless as is the Ford Focus I have had since. These are what I demand and expect in the 21st century not a quirky spaceship

    Totally agree with @13 Darren the British car industry does best at small niche products when it tries to mass produce things thats when it goes to **** and back

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