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Car manufacturing in the UK in October 2024 fell by 15.3% – the eighth monthly decline this year – to 77,484 units. We’ve become used to car manufacturing in the UK declining this year as high interest rates and a reluctance by buyers, particularly private buyers, to pay high prices for new cars, particularly EVs, see poorer sales and therefore less demand for car makers’ products.
The SMMT also blames the decline on manufacturers gearing up for new EV production (despite the lack of demand for EVs), but all these factors combined has seen manufacturing numbers fall for eight months in a row, with the latest figures for October 2024 showing a drop of 15.3%.
The raw numbers for October show 77,848 units produced – down by 14,037 on 2023 – with 24,719 electrified vehicles (that’s BEV, PHEV and Hybrid) coming out of the gates representing 31.9% of output but with a volume decline of 32.6%. Volumes for domestic and export markets fell – by 4.7% and 17.6% respectively – with more than half of exports heading for the EU (but with a fall of 34.6% in volume) and a rise of 96.2% to the US with 14,584 units heading across the Pond.
Mike Hawes, SMMT CEO, said:
These are deeply concerning times for the automotive industry, with massive investments in plants and new zero emission products under intense pressure. Slowdowns in the global market – especially for EVs – are impacting production output, with the situation in the UK particularly acute.
Urgent action is therefore needed and we will work with government on its rapid review of the regulation and the development of an ambitious and comprehensive Industrial Strategy to assure our competitiveness.