Britain exported more cars in 2007 than in any previous year, with total production up six percent to over 1.5 million.
A record 1.18m cars, or 77 percent of production, were sent overseas. Britain’s record year for car production was 1972, when 1.9m cars were produced. But demand from British car-buyers for British-made cars was much higher then. In 2007, just 15 percent of cars sold in the UK were made there.
Britain’s new car sales were also up in 2007, by 2.5 per cent to 2.4 million. The surge in exports comes despite flat demand in western Europe and the United States, the strength of sterling and strong competition from low-cost, high-quality new factories in eastern Europe. China has yet to start significant exports to major markets.
After declining to under a million in 1980, Britain’s car production last peaked in 1999 at 1.8 million. After the closure of Peugeot’s Ryton plant and the failure of MG Rover at Longbridge it slumped back to 1.44m in 2006.
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But 2007 saw strong performances by Britain’s remaining major carmakers. Nissan’s Sunderland plant produced the most at 354,000. Toyota’s Burnaston factory was second, building 278,000 Avensis and Auris models and running very close to full capacity. More Minis were made than any other individual model; a record 238,000 were built in 2007 after BMW invested heavily in an expansion of the Oxford plant.
‘Around 1.5 million cars and three million engines are produced in the UK each year, and these latest figures reinforce the UK’s strength and breadth as a global manufacturing base,’ said Paul Everitt, chief executive of Britain’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
‘Last year, demand for new cars was stronger than many had predicted. There is little sign that the US credit crisis or rising fuel prices have affected demand, and we foresee only limited changes through 2008.’
In the March issue of CAR magazine we test the best of Britain’s car industry, including the new Jaguar XF diesel, the Aston Martin DBS and the latest supercharged Lotus Elise. And our in-depth analysis of the British car industry proves that while it’s far from dead, there may be tough times ahead.