UK automobile manufacturing rose 6% within the first three months of 2023, to 219,887 items.
The Society of Motor Producers and Merchants (SMMT), which launched the figures stated that as the worldwide scarcity of semiconductors and different elements begins to ease, factories produced 12,540 items greater than Q1 final yr.
March rounded off the interval with volumes up 6.1% to 81,605 as, once more, exports drove progress, up 10.4% to 61,546 items, offsetting a -5.1% decline in automobile manufacturing for the UK as 20,059 automobiles have been made for the home market.
Mixed gross sales of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electrical automobiles elevated 75% in March to 32,546 items.
4 in 10 automobiles constructed within the month featured ultra-low or zero emission powertrain expertise. The SMMT stated this pattern is about to proceed as new merchandise come on stream, with greater than 20 fashions of electrical automobiles, vans, buses, vans and taxis anticipated to be in manufacturing within the UK by 2025.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief govt, stated, “A second consecutive month of progress for UK automobile manufacturing provides trigger for optimism, although volumes are nonetheless nicely beneath pre-pandemic ranges.
“If British automobile manufacturing is to get again in direction of these ranges, with all of the financial advantages that brings, we have to match the perfect in international competitiveness. Which means driving down the excessive value of UK power, reforming enterprise charges and vigorously selling Britain globally to safe the investments important to a zero carbon automotive future.”
