British car industry stronger than ever, says Autocar

The British car industry is stronger now than it has ever been in its 120-year history – and it is on course to set new records in the next three years, according to new analysis by Autocar UK magazine.

Established in 1895, Autocar UK is the only motoring magazine in the world to have documented the UK automotive industry from day one and is still the world’s oldest and most respected motoring title.

Major new investment, as well as 25 years of retraining and rebuilding the industry following the dark days of its near collapse in the early 1980s mean that, at the current rate of growth, Britain will be making more than two million cars by 2017, eclipsing the previous high of 1.92 million in 1972.

With new car sales hitting a 10-year high in March 2014, the industry is forecast to build 1.57 million units in 2014 and has already overtaken France to become Europe’s third-largest automotive manufacturer.

According to calculations by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the domestic car industry turned over £60 billion (Rs 610,320 crore) in 2012, equivalent to three percent of the UK’s economy. Similarly, its exports, valued at nearly £31 billion (Rs 315,332 crore), represent 10 percent of all UK exports.

Autocar UK editor, Chas Hallett, said: “The British car industry was on its knees in 1982, when we were only building 887,000 cars a year. This was down to a combination of a desperate lack of top-flight engineers, the legacy of a lack of training following World War 2, and the crippling divisions in British society of the time.

“It has taken nearly 30 years but the industry is now in the best shape it’s ever been and is a vitally important part of the country’s wider economy.”

The Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover is leading the charge to re-establish the automotive industry, pumping major investment into its UK operation, which will result in an additional 410,000 sales over the next three or four years.

Mini too is expanding, with its Oxford plant likely to increase production from 175,000 units to 225,000 and Nissan is investing £250 million (Rs 2,543 crore) on its Sunderland factory to install facilities to produce cars for its premium Infiniti brand.

More than 700,000 people are employed across the UK automotive industry, including 82,000 in the supply chain and 38,500 in the motorsport sector. On average, UK car manufacturers make more than 4,200 cars every day.

Hallett said: “Better management, planning, design and engineering have all contributed to the buoyant state we are in now. Britain has one of the richest heritages of all when it comes to car design and manufacture and the UK is now a genuine world force when it comes to pioneering, innovation and engineering.”

Photograph: Jaguar Land Rover’s Castle Bromwich manufacturing plant.