British Carmakers Turning the Corner
Britain’s carmakers are accelerating out of the slump in the motor industry and will be producing nearly 50 per cent more vehicles a year within five years.
But the extent of the depression among the country’s foreign-owned companies — with factories closed for months last year, shifts cut and short-time working introduced — means that even by 2014 Britain’s carmakers still will not match the number made in 2008.
According to an analysis of the future of European car production by the SMMT motor industry group, the production of cars and vans in Britain will rise by 25 per cent this year to 1.34 million. Britain’s performance last year, the worst since cars were mass-produced in the country, resulted in 1.07 million vehicles rolling off assembly lines. The SMMT reckons that Britain’s recovery from recession will lift the number made in 2014 to 1.57 million, behind the 1.61 million of 2008 and the 1.71 million of 2007.
“There is increasing confidence regarding 2010 and beyond thanks to the acceleration of new model programmes and the strong performance by many vehicle manufacturers over the first quarter of 2010,” Paul Everitt, chief executive of the SMMT, said.
The body says the recovery in production volumes comes from growing confidence that economic meltdown appears to have been averted and has been underpinned by performances by some models that has been better than expected. That includes the Sunderland-built Nissan Qashqai, the biggest car in British production by volume. This year Sunderland will build 219,000 of them, 10 per cent more than last year, raising Nissan’s total British output in 2010 by 30,000 to 367,000, making Sunderland the UK’s busiest car plant.
For the SMMT press release click here.
For The Times graphic that accompanied their article (published on 19th May 2010) click here.
Tuesday, 18 May, 2010
