UK car production DOWN in September after four months of growth

Car production in the UK fell in September – by 6.0 per cent – the first fall since April as supply chain issues continue to disrupt.

We’ve had a ruin for the last four months of improving car production levels in the UK – although still only around half of the pre-Covid levels – but that run ends as September’s figures arrive.

Figures for September 2022 show numbers down by 6 per cent to 63,215, not much more than half of the numbers built in September 2019, the last pre-Covid numbers. 

Export numbers fell the most, 7.4 per cent, with exports to the EU, US and China all down, although more cars were exported to South Korea, Australia and Turkey.

But, as has been the trend for some time, production of BEVs, PHEVs and HEVs rose by 9.9 per cent to a record share of 37.8 per cent. However, a chunk of that is because of production prioritisation. That prioritisation saw BEVs benefit the most with production up by 16.6 per cent.

Mike Hawes, SMMT boss, said:

Billions of pounds and thousands of jobs are dependent on the automotive sector and, increasingly, on electrified vehicle production. Despite the current challenges, our car makers remain resilient and are well placed to ramp up output of the latest, zero emission vehicles which will help drive an economic recovery, create jobs and boost growth.