Great Britain down
Worst year for UK car production since 1956
UK car production fell to its lowest level since 1956 in 2022. The industry association SMMT blamed the global shortage of semiconductors on Thursday.
Published: 06:55 am
|
Updated: 1:39 p.m
UK car production fell to its lowest level since 1956 in 2022. The industry association SMMT blamed the global shortage of semiconductors on Thursday. (archive image)
But the loss of two factories and the effects of the corona lockdowns in China on the supply chains are also partly responsible.
Production for the domestic market increased significantly by 9.4 percent compared to 2021. However, exports fell by 14 percent. This hits the manufacturers in Great Britain particularly badly because four fifths of the cars produced are exported. More than half of this, in turn, goes to the EU, while exports to the international community fell by 10 percent.
A total of 775,014 cars were manufactured in Great Britain last year, which was 9.8 percent less than in the previous year and 40.5 percent less than in the pre-corona year 2019. In December alone, production fell by 17.9 percent Compared to the previous year, after October and November the numbers had increased slightly for the first time in a long time.
Production had already fallen significantly in 2021. In 1972, 1.97 million cars were made in Britain.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) was pleased with the production of electric vehicles, which had risen to a record 234,066 vehicles. A good 30 percent of all cars manufactured in Great Britain were therefore fully electric or hybrid. Since 2017, the value of exported e-cars has increased from 1.3 to more than 10 billion pounds (around 11.4 billion francs).
The potential for this division is obvious, said SMMT boss Mike Hawes. He demanded: “Now the right decisions must be made.” This includes a strategy to expand domestic battery production and push the switch to e-vehicles across the industry.
Just last week, the start-up Britishvolt, which had planned a so-called giga factory in north-east England, filed for bankruptcy. Almost 300 jobs are affected. The British government intends to ban new combustion engines from 2030 onwards. (SDA)