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UK car production rises
22 October 2008
The output of Britain’s car factories rose in September, the latest figures from the SMMT have revealed. The news is in stark contrast to UK car sales, which collapsed by 21.2 per cent over the same period.
Despite the global slowdown, UK car plants produced 142,606 units in September, a 2.4 per cent improvement over the same period last year. The large part of the gain was due to exports, which accounted for 77.4 per cent of production.
Despite the rise in production, industry bosses have warned that tougher market conditions are going to lead to cutbacks in coming months.
A Honda spokesman said: “Our Swindon plant has the capacity to produce 250,000 vehicles per annum, but in line with prevailing market conditions we’ve had to reduce output to 206,000 units.”
Production volumes at Swindon should increase again when European manufacture of the Jazz is moved there in September next year. However Nissan, Toyota and Mini have also made cutbacks in recent weeks.
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