Car output falls by one-third to reach a record low in 2020
INDUSTRY BOSS OPTIMISTIC AS FIRMS FACE DELAYS AT CUSTOMS POST BREXIT
BRITISH car production plunged by nearly one-third last year, the weakest annual output since 1984 as a result of coronvirus fallout, industry data showed last Thursday (28).
UK car manufacturing, which mostly serves foreign markets, slumped 29.3 per cent to 920,928 vehicles compared with 2019, The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders said in a statement. “These figures, the worst in a generation, reflect the devastating impact of the pandemic on UK automotive production, with Covid lockdowns depressing demand, shuttering plants and threatening lives and livelihoods,” said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.
“The industry faces 2021 with more optimism, however, with a vaccine being rolled out and clarity on how we trade with Europe, which remains by far our biggest market.”
Japanese carmaker Nissan last week committed to its future in Britain, home to the group’s largest European factory, citing the country’s Brexit trade deal with the European Union.
Britain’s automotive sector, which sells more than 80 per cent of its vehicles abroad, was a big winner from the EU trade agreement, which allows for tariff-free trade.
Despite the absence of tariffs, Britain’s carmakers – which include also Indian-owned Jaguar Land Rover – face delays with new paperwork and border controls.
Hawes said the industry’s immediate
challenge was “to overcome the additional customs burdens and regain... global competitiveness while delivering zero-emission transport”.
Investment, however, was a bright spot, rising to £3.2 billion, the highest figure since 2014, due largely to plans by startup Britishvolt to build a battery gigafactory in northern England.
Jaguar Land Rover saw its British output fall 37 per cent to 243,908 cars as Nissan overtook it to become the country’s biggest automotive maker, producing 245,649 vehicles at its Sunderland site in North East England, according to SMMT figures. Output is only expected to recover slightly to one million vehicles in 2021, as the effect of the coronavirus continues and Honda’s Swindon factory, which made nearly 70,000 vehicles in 2020, permanently closes.
Carlos Tavares, the chief executive of Vauxhall’s parent company, warned last month about the future of its Ellesmere Port factory in northern England, where it makes the Vauxhall/ Opel Astra.
He called on prime minister Boris Johnson’s administration to show willingness to protect the sector. A decision on whether the site will build new vehicles or close is due in the next few weeks. “As far as the government is concerned, it will want to try and sustain and do everything it can to help secure that future investment, having backed the sector in the (Brexit) negotiations with Europe,” said Hawes.