Car production within the UK fell in August, ending six months of continued year-on-year growth, with the blame aimed on the annual summer season shutdowns and deliberate manufacturing unit upgrades.
Last month, 45,052 vehicles left production traces – down 31,399 on July – in what’s broadly considered the quietest month of the yr.
Compared with final August, 4849 fewer vehicles (-9.7%) had been produced, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveal.
Over the summer season, Stellantis’s Ellesmere Port was a type of factories gearing up for the production of next-generation autos; it reopened final month following a £100 million refit to allow the production of electrical vans for the Citroën, Fiat, Opel, Peugeot and Vauxhall manufacturers.
It wasn’t all gloom in August. Electrified automobile manufacturing – which incorporates electrical vehicles and all kinds of hybrids – grew for the 14th straight month (up 2.8% yr on yr), representing 36% of all vehicles that had been produced in August.
The greatest hit to the general determine got here from production of vehicles for the home market, this falling by 25.2% yr on yr to 8010.
Export numbers – which equated for 82.2% of the month’s complete output – additionally dipped, by 5.5% to 37,042.
Before August, the UK trade had recorded six months of year-on-year growth, producing 69,707 vehicles in February, 81,605 in March, 66,527 in April, 76,046 in May, 84,767 in June and 76,451 in July.
In complete, 571,671 vehicles have been produced right here in 2023, up 11.8% on the identical level final yr. This is largely because of a bumper first half, when 450,168 vehicles had been produced.
SMMT chief govt Mike Hawes stated the August decline is not a trigger for concern.
“With car manufacturers taking advantage of the summer holiday season to upgrade their plants, this is part of an ongoing commitment to deliver the next generation of electric vehicles, with a record number of these models already being made,” he added.
