Car production in the UK fell in August, ending six months of continued year-on-year growth, with the blame aimed at the annual summer shutdowns and planned factory upgrades.
Last month, 45,052 cars left production lines – down 31,399 on July – in what is widely regarded as the quietest month of the year.
Compared with last August, 4849 fewer cars (-9.7%) were produced, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveal.
Over the summer, Stellantis's Ellesmere Port was one of those factories gearing up for the production of next-generation vehicles; it reopened last month following a £100 million refit to enable the production of electric vans for the Citroën, Fiat, Opel, Peugeot and Vauxhall brands.
It wasn't all gloom in August. Electrified vehicle manufacturing – which includes electric cars and all types of hybrids – grew for the 14th straight month (up 2.8% year on year), representing 36% of all cars that were produced in August.
The biggest hit to the overall figure came from production of cars for the domestic market, this falling by 25.2% year on year to 8010.
Export numbers – which equated for 82.2% of the month’s total output – also dipped, by 5.5% to 37,042.
Before August, the UK industry had recorded six months of year-on-year growth, producing 69,707 cars in February, 81,605 in March, 66,527 in April, 76,046 in May, 84,767 in June and 76,451 in July.
In total, 571,671 cars have been produced here in 2023, up 11.8% on the same point last year. This is largely thanks to a bumper first half, when 450,168 cars were produced.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said the August decline isn't a cause 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.
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I find it interesting that despite all the pro EV talk, 64% of what we produced last month were pure ICE. Its also odd that they dont break down the Hybrid, plug in Hybrid, and full EV figures that make up the 36%. (could it be that most are Hybrid, and pure EVs remain a tiny percentage?)As we export most of what we make, clearly the rest of the world has about the same interest in buying pure ICE cars as we do here. There is such a large disconnect between what people are choosing to buy, and what we get to read about in Autocar. Shame
According to the SMMT 44.9% of sales in August were 'pure' ICE, not 64%. Of the electrified sales 20.1% are pure EV, 7.7% plug in hybrid and 10% hybrid. So EV's are taking more market share than hybrid and plug in hybrid combined. Mild hybrids have a 17% share, so more than half of new car sales are now electrified, to a lesser or greater extent.
According to the SMMT 44.9% of sales in August were 'pure' ICE, not 64%. Of the electrified sales 20.1% are pure EV, 7.7% plug in hybrid and 10% hybrid. So EV's are taking more market share than hybrid and plug in hybrid combined. Mild hybrids have a 17% share, so more than half of new car sales are now electrified, to a lesser or greater extent.
Or alternatively, but still using your statistics, 79.6% of new car sales are still to a lesser or greater extent ICE.
Correct! In 2012 only 1200 EVs were sold in the U.K. Last year the figure was 270000. A transition on this scale is not going to happen overnight, but it is going to happen, so everyone might as well get used to the idea.