UK car production rose just 1% year on year in July to 131,079 units though the export-focused industry’s year-to-date (YTD) tally was up 6.9% to 955,670. Commercial vehicle exports surged, however, driven especially by eastern European demand.
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Export car output inched up just 0.3% to 98,541 units last month but production for foreign markets was up 7.2% to 734, 172.
“Car output rose by 1% in July and is positive for the year to date,” said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt.
“The Nissan Qashqai+2, which was recently launched at the British international motor show, went into production this week and it is expected that the Sunderland plant will produce around 270,000 of both versions of Qashqai in 2008 and an estimated 450,000 vehicles will come off the line in total.”
Commercial vehicle production for July was up 50.1% to 20,997 units and 15% to 142,504 YTD. Export CV output rose 37.4% to 11,818 units in July and 16.1% to 87,311YTD.
An SMMT spokeswoman told just-auto on Friday that the healthy rises were due to increased export demand for all types of CVs, rather than the launch of any particular new models.
Total July UK production was up 5.8% last month to 152,076 units and 7.9% to 1,098,174YTD. Exports rose 3.3% to 110,359 in July and 8.1% to 821,483YTD.
“Commercial vehicle production saw exceptional growth of 50% in July 2008,” added Everitt.
“The 2002-2006 average for the month is around the 15,000 mark, so 21,000 is well above the norm. The growth comes from high demand for products from eastern Europe, and indications are that this strong performance will last through 2008.”
