The British car industry is heading for a new “golden age”, according to a leading Welsh auto industry expert. Prof Garel Rhys, of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research, was speaking after new car sales last month accelerated to a record April figure writes Robin Roberts.
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There were 208,976 new models sold in April 2002 – beating the previous highest April total of 191,276 reached in 1989, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said.
The April 2002 figure was 16.1% higher than April 2001 and took the figure for the first four months of this year to 931,694 – 9.0% up on the January-April 2001 total. April 2002 was the 19th month in succession in which sales have risen.
“Although the current rate of growth cannot last forever, with such a strong start, 2002 looks set to be one of the best-performing on record,” said SMMT chief executive Christopher Macgowan.
He added that the UK was the only country among the “big five” European markets which has seen growth in 2002, with sales down in Germany, Italy, France and Spain.
Private registrations in the UK rose 24% last month, while diesel-powered car sales soared 60.5% on the back of tax incentives.
Professor Rhys said that behind the booming figures was a story of rising efficiency and success for car makers in Britain.
He said, “There is a very strong rennaissance in the British automotive industry at a time when America and Japan is hitting very stormy waters.
“The problems of these countries are now an opportunity for Britain to crash through the two million cars a year for the first time in our history and I think that will be in 2004.”
Prof Rhys said the end of car production at Dagenham and the cutbacks at Luton were not indications that British car making was declining but were evidence of the changes taking place in world markets and that increases in production at Ellesmere Port, Ryton and Oxford were were more representative of the true state of the industry in the UK.
