EV investment prompts dip in UK car manufacturing

As UK car assembly plants retool lines to make electrified models UK car production fell by 7.6% in the first half of 2024.

According to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), factories turned out 416,074 units - 34,094 fewer than in the same period in 2023.

Production declined by 26.6%, in June, caused by multiple model changes.

The dip in performance was expected following more than £23 billion of UK investment in factories to produce electric cars.

UK light vehicle production is now expected to decline by 9.3% this year, to around 910,000 units. Output is then set to recover to around 1.1 million units in 2028 when more than half of all UK car and van production is expected to be zero emission, and reach some 1.167 million by the end of the decade.

Amid this transition, first half year electrified vehicle (battery electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid) production was down 7.6%, in line with overall volumes, to 157,224 units. This represents more than a third (37.8%) of all output, unchanged from last year.

In the same period, overall car output for the UK market was up 17.7% to 106,157 units, but this was not enough to offset a 13.9% decline in production for export, with more than seven-in-10 cars made destined for customers overseas. 

Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “The UK auto industry is moving at pace to build the next generation of electric vehicles – a transition that can be a growth engine for the entire British economy.

“The new government’s commitments to gigafactories, a decarbonised energy supply and a faster planning system will help boost our competitiveness and sustain employment in a sector that delivers well paid, skilled jobs nationwide. Amid fierce global competition, however, industry and government must work quickly to deliver those commitments, creating an industrial strategy that enables the growth the economy craves.”