An employee walks past a advertising hoarding outside the MINI production line at the BMW group plant in Cowley, near Oxford on July 9, 2019.
(Photo : TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Vehicle production in the United Kingdom remained sluggish to start the year, with British car factories producing the fewest new models in January for 13 years. Latest figures revealed on Friday, February 25, showed outputs plummeting 20.1 percent in the opening month of the year.
Only 68,790 vehicles rolled off assembly lines in the UK in January 2022, making it the worst opening month for motor manufacturing since 2009. What makes the year-on-year production decline even more depressing is that these numbers are being compared to already weak figures in January 2021.
Production numbers dropped then because of the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, extended factory shutdowns, and post-Brexit trading arrangements. What affected the figures in January of this year is the ongoing global chip shortage.
Semiconductor shortage affects UK car production in January
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), supply chain issues continued to hound automakers, with the lack of semiconductors affecting production. That was the case for German auto giant BMW this week, which suspended production at Mini's UK plant in Oxford, England.
Britain's automotive trade body added that the closure of Honda's car plant in Swindon, England in July 2021 also contributed to the 13-year low January figures. The SMMT explained that hundreds of Honda Civic models that were produced in January of last year are no longer being made, sending numbers to drop even further last month.
In addition to that, some factories are also slowing their production outputs, with automakers already changing their assembly lines to get ready for the building of new variants that they will launch soon.
Production numbers for overseas and domestic markets were heavily affected, going down by 17.5 and 30.8 percent respectively last month. Exports accounted for more than eight in 10 vehicles made in January 2022.
The European Union remained the largest destination for British-made cars, accounting for 59.1 percent of vehicles that were produced last month for overseas. China came in second in that department with 10.4 percent followed by the United States with 10 percent.
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Rising EV production provides hope for UK car industry
It was not all doom and gloom, though, for UK car production last month. Production of battery electric vehicles went up a third in January 2022, with one in 11 vehicles rolling off UK factory lines last month yielding zero tailpipe emissions. That figure further increases if we include hybrids and plug-in hybrids, with electrified vehicles accounting for more than a quarter of the output in the UK last month.
SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes issued a statement regarding the disappointing January numbers, saying "It's another torrid start to the year as global supply issues and structural changes squeeze output while model changes impact production scheduling."
Hawes remains confident, however, that the UK automotive manufacturing industry will eventually recover, saying British car manufacturers are "fundamentally strong" and their recent investment announcements are testament to their potential for growth, particularly in the EV sector.
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