January car production figures signal another good year
ROBUST car production in January suggests 2014 may be another year of growth for the UK car industry, a leading trade organisation has said.
Latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show output in January was just 0.3% below the same month last year.
Its analysts expect growth over the full year as newly models move to full-scale production and the European market continues its recovery. This is encouraging news as around 50% of all the vehicles produced in the UK are exported to the EU.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “UK car manufacturing made a solid start to 2014, matching the strength of January last year.”
“We expect domestic car output to accelerate throughout 2014 as new model introductions reach full volume. Looking further ahead, we anticipate further growth as investments by some of the world’s biggest automotive brands become reality, creating more jobs and huge opportunities for UK-based suppliers.”
In total, 128.620 vehicles were manufactured last month (2013: 129,049), with 103,381 (80.4%) bound for export, very slightly above the level from the corresponding month last year.
The outlook is not so rosy for the commercial vehicle sector, where output fell 14.6% in January to 6,681 units.
The SMMT said the decline was evident across both home and export markets as restructuring impacted volumes. However, it said the figures were expected to stabilise in the second half of the year.
“New Euro-6 engine emission legislation came into effect from January this year, a change which invariably results in a lull in UK heavy commercial vehicle manufacturing and a contributor to January’s 14.6% fall in output,” said Mr Hawes.
“While van production was strong in the month, the 2014 market will, for some months, continue to be affected by the Europe-wide restructuring that occurred last year.”
UK engine output declined 6.1% in January to 209,291 units. The decline followed a sharp fall in output for the home market, down 17.4%. By contrast, export volumes remained stable.
The SMMT said the dip in engine demand was linked to newly introduced UK-built models still gearing up to full output levels.
