UK car production slumps to lowest in 67 years

Manufacturing output fell nearly 10% but electric vehicles and luxury cars set records

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  Connected Kerb chief executive Chris Pateman-Jones plugs his electric car into one of the company's on-street chargers in London. Reuters

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  New Tesla electric cars in a storage area in Southampton, England. AFP

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  An Audi e-tron. AFP

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  A British Transport Police Tesla Model 3. Reuters

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  A Volvo XC60 hybrid car being charged in Reading, west of London. AFP

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  The Nissan Qashqai. Getty Images

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  The Vauxhall Corsa Se Nav. Photo: Vauxhall

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  The Tesla Model Y and Model 3 were unveiled at the company's official launch event in Bangkok in December. Reuters

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  A Mini Cooper S. Photo: BMW

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  The Ford Puma 1L EcoBoost 125PS. Photo: Ford

Car production in Britain fell to its lowest level in 67 years in 2022, the UK's Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has revealed.

SMMT said 775,014 cars were made in Britain last year, 9.8 per cent fewer than in 2021 and 40.5 per cent below 2019 pre-pandemic levels. It is also the lowest annual output level since 1956.

However, a record 234,066 electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and hybrid electric vehicles were made in the UK last year, with combined volumes rising 4.5 per cent accounting for a nearly a third of total car production.

"These [overall] figures reflect just how tough 2022 was for UK car manufacturing, though we still made more electric vehicles than ever before," SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said.

But the UK is not alone — the global motor manufacturing sector had for the past two years been struggling with a shortage of key components, especially semiconductor chips. Pandemic lockdown disrupt at factories in China also caused supply chains problems.

In the UK last year, Japan's Nissan produced the most vehicles at more than 238,000, up 16.5 per cent on 2021.

Then came Indian-owned Jaguar Land Rover, with nearly 203,000 cars, although this was a decline of 8 per cent.

The most exported model was the Mini, made by the German group BMW, followed by Nissan's Qashqai.

Car production last year fell by nearly a tenth in the UK. PA

Structural changes in the UK car-making sector over the past few years have also contributed to lower production figures.

In October, BMW said it would be moving production of electric Mini hatchbacks from Oxford in England to China. In 2021, Honda closed its site in Swindon that made Civic hatchbacks, and Stellantis stopped making Vauxhalls at its Ellesmere Port factory a year later.

Mr Hawes said car and light-van output should increase by about 15 per cent this year.

"We think we'll get back over a million [cars] probably in two years' time," he said.

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  Ryan Hughes, joint owner of RMA Motors, says he sells about 5-10 Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars a year. Chris Whiteoak / The National

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  The Lamborghini Urus Performante. Lamborghini is planning a hybrid version of each of its models by 2024. Bloomberg

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  The six-wheeled Rolls-Royce Phantom features a 3,570mm wheelbase, and 5,834mm overall length. EPA

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  Colourful interior of the Rolls-Royce Ghost. Photo: Rolls-Royce

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  The custom Rolls-Royce Phantom 6x6, created by French artist Danton Alexandre. AFP

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  The Bentley Mulliner is a sleek bespoke coupe that costs nearly $2 million – only 18 will be produced. EPA

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  Lamborghini delivered 9,233 cars worldwide in 2022, an increase of 10 per cent over the previous year. Chris Whiteoak / The National

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  Dubai Police are well known for their fleet of luxury patrol cars, including a Bentley Continental GT Coupe. Sarah Dea / The National

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  With a starting price of about $313,000 the Rolls-Royce Ghost competes with well-known competitors such as the Porsche Panamera. Photo: Wassim Raslan

On the bright side, it's been a bumper time for Britain's luxury car makers.

Volkswagen-owned Bentley produced more than 15,000 vehicles for the first time at its Crewe plant in Cheshire, while at its factory at Goodwood in West Sussex, Rolls-Royce, a subsidiary of BMW, made a record 6,021 cars last year.