UK car manufacturing boom breaks record for exports

BRITISH car makers enjoyed their best year in a decade as they shattered records for the number of vehicles exported.

The latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders came as Nissan announced a £26.5m investment in battery production for electric cars in Sunderland, where the Infiniti Q30 ( pictured) is also built.

More than 1.58m cars were made in the UK in 2015, and car exports totalled more than 1.2m.

This was driven by the economic recovery in Europe – the UK’s biggest trading partner – which accounted for an 11.3pc rise in demand for UK-built cars in 2015. The region now accounts for 57.5pc of all UK car exports.

British manufacturers made 1,587,677 cars in 2015, up 3.9pc on the previous year, and not far off the 1,595,697 produced in 2005.

The £26.5m investment at Nissan is on top of the £420m invested since electric vehicle production began in Sunderland in 2013 and will safeguard the 300 jobs at its battery plant.

The new batteries will power the all-electric Nissan LEAF, also built at Sunderland, which is now the largest plant in the history of the UK car industry.

Nissan said the investment, and the launch this month of its new 155-mile longer-range Nissan LEAF was a long-term commitment to pollution-free electric vehicles.