Car production hits 25-year low

Car production in the UK has suffered its worst September for a quarter of a century, with Covid-19 and political and economic uncertainty being blamed for the decline.

Just 114,732 cars rolled off the production lines in September 2020, a drop of five per cent, or 6,000 units, from the same month in 2019. It is the worst September output since 1995 when 111,182 cars were manufactured.

Production for overseas markets dropped 9.7 per cent in September 2020 to 87,533 units, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

At the same time, car production for the UK market increased 14.5 per cent but this was not enough to offset the fall in exports.

There have been 632,824 units built in the first nine months of the year, down 35.9 per cent from the same stage in 2019. 

The SMMT predicts about 885,000 cars will be manufactured in the UK in 2020. This would be the first time production levels have dropped below the one million mark since 2009, when 999,460 cars were built. On the positive side, electric vehicle (EV) production was up 37 per cent year-on-year.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, warns the latest Covid-19 lockdown in the UK – which will run until at least December 2 – may hinder any push to increase car production in the final months of the year.

“These figures are yet more grim reading for UK automotive as coronavirus continues to wreak havoc both at home and in key overseas markets,” he says.