British car, van, truck and bus production fell to its lowest level since 1952 last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Its chief executive Mike Hawes said it had been “the toughest year in a generation”, with output hit by a major cyberattack at Jaguar Land Rover, the closure of Vauxhall’s plant in Luton and deep uncertainty over US trade policy.
The situation is expected to improve this year, with the introduction of new electric models. The SMMT believes production of cars and vans could exceed 1million by 2027.
But Hawes warned that “increasingly protectionist” proposals emerging from Brussels represented a “significant threat” to the UK industry.
Overall, 764,715 vehicles were built in 2025, which was 15.5% fewer than in 2024. The vast majority of these were cars, with 717,371 leaving the production line. That was some 60,000 fewer than last year.
By comparison, as recently as 2016, the UK produced 1.7 million cars.
But since then, analysts say uncertainty over Brexit arrangements, the 2021 closure of Honda’s factory in Swindon, the impact of the Covid pandemic and serious supply chain disruption have taken a heavy toll on the local industry.
Last year, vehicle manufacturing was badly affected by a number of one-off or temporary issues. They included the cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover, which forced the company to shut down its computer networks and brought its factories to a halt at the beginning of September.
Facilities which would normally build thousands of cars each week remained idle for more than a month, and production did not get back to normal for some time after that.
Source:Fiilafmonline/BBC
