SMMT: Tough year for UK automotive output but Industrial Strategy now key to recovery
UK vehicle production fell -15.5% in 2025, according to the latest figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Factories turned out a total of 764,715 units – 717,371 cars and 47,344 commercial vehicles, with output falling by -8.0% and -62.3% respectively. Volumes were constrained by a number of factors, including a […]
Electric car discounts “unsustainable”, says SMMT CEO
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has warned that industry discounts for electric vehicles are “unsustainable”, as the number of new cars registered in the UK exceeded two million last year for the first time since the pandemic. Nearly 500,000 of those new cars sold were electric. SMMT chief executive, Mike Hawes, welcomed […]
Self-driving vehicles: Next step on UK rollout as public, charities and businesses asked for views
The Government is asking road users, industry and disability groups to help shape the framework, which will ensure self-driving technology is safely introduced on Britain’s roads. This is a key next step in implementing the landmark Automated Vehicles (AV) Act, which will ensure self-driving technology can help transform travel by strengthening road safety and improving accessible transport options – including access to essential services – especially […]
UK car production at lowest level for 70 years
Car production in the UK has fallen almost to its lowest since 1954 last year, with some 779,584 units rolling off British production lines in 2024, 13.9 per cent down on 2023. Only during the unprecedented conditions of the pandemic and its associated lockdowns was activity at a lower ebb. It is a confirmation of the […]
SMMT’s CEO calls for “New Year Hope” amid concern over EV transition
The Chief Executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Mike Hawes, has used his New Year Message to warn of “strong headwinds” the industry faces as it seeks to decarbonise. He writes that billions of pounds had been spent before 2024 in the development of cutting-edge EVs with 135 such car models and […]
New car market growth continues despite declining private demand, says SMMT
UK new car registrations grew for the 21st consecutive month in April, rising by a modest 1.0% to reach 134,274 units, according to the latest data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). As a result, this was the market’s best April since 2021, although uptake was still -16.6% below the pre-pandemic […]
SMMT: EVs drive down carbon emissions and lift vehicle ownership to record high
The number of vehicles on UK roads reached a record high in 2023, rising by 1.7% to 41,404,589 vehicles, according to new Motorparc data published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) – with plug-in vehicles driving the biggest growth in car ownership since 2016. Total cars on the road rose by […]
SMMT warns of ramifications if autonomous vehicle legislation delayed
The deployment of self-driving cars on the UK’s roads will be delayed by around four years unless legislation is passed before the next general election, the SMMT has warned. Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said the UK can “ill afford” a hold-up in the technology being rolled out, says the Express & Star. […]
Budget “a missed opportunity to help consumers”, says SMMT
Jeremy Hunt’s (pictured) Spring Budget represents a missed opportunity to jumpstart the mass EV transition amid slowing demand for privately bought EVs. After consumer confidence in the EV transition was damaged by last September’s mixed public messaging, and with manufacturers now under an ambitious mandate to sell growing proportions of electric vehicles, the industry was […]
Zero Emission HGV market “shackled by absence of infrastructure and lack of plan”
The heavy goods vehicle sector is calling for an urgent, government-led strategy to drive uptake of zero emission trucks to meet decarbonisation targets. With just over a decade until the first end of sale deadline for the UK’s predominantly diesel HGVs, new analysis from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has found Britain’s strategic […]