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Car production in the UK fell by 7.6% in February 2025, the 12th month in a row that production has declined. The car world’s a rocky place at the moment, with car makers drowning in a sea of problems from high interest rates, forced into building EVs no one wants and are not profictable, a cost of living crisis and now Trump tariffs.
All of those factors – well, apart from the current bonkers threats from Trump – have been with us for a while, so it’s no surprise to see car manufacturing in the UK dropping month on month since March last year, and February car production in the UK was no different either.
Car production for February fell by 7.6% to just 73,814 cars built, with cars built for domestic production falling by a whopping 33.3%, although exports – which accounted for 81.3% of the total – increased by 1.3%. The EU was by far the biggest market for UK-built cars taking 53.5% followed by the US on 19.7% and China with 6.3%, although exports to both the EU and China fell (by 9.6% and 10.9% respectively) although exports to the US rose by 34.7%.
Production of electrified cars (BEV, PHEV and Hybrid) fell 5.6%, although that’s less than the market as a whole so market share increased to 37.1%.
To add to UK manufacturing woes, CV production also fell – by a huge 35.9% – although production for the UK market rose by more than half to 4,621 with the big hit a drop of 62.7% in CV exports to 3,743.
Mike Hawes, SMMT CEO, said:
These are worrying times for UK vehicle makers with car production falling for 12 months in a row, rising trade tensions and weak demand. The market transition is not keeping pace with ambition and, while the industry can deliver growth – and green growth at that – it needs policies to deliver that reality.