Car production in the UK fell in November, down 6.5%, with 107,753 units manufactured, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Trends seen throughout the year, including soft consumer and business confidence, weak demand in overseas markets and model production changes, combined to impact output in the month.
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An additional factor in the poor performance in November was the factory shutdowns around Halloween, planned closures to mitigate against any disruption arising from the potential departure of the UK from the EU without a deal on 31 October. These stoppages were in addition to those in April, when car production fell 44.5%, and add to the list of costly Brexit contingency measures implemented by the automotive sector – a bill that stands at more than GBP500m, the SMMT claims.
In November, output for both home and overseas markets fell, 26.6% to 17,468 and 14.2% to 90,285 respectively, and UK car production has now fallen in 17 of the last 18 months. In the year to date, meanwhile, volume was down 14.5% to 1,231,679 units, with by far the majority (80.8%) heading abroad and most of these exports (54.7%) into the EU, still UK automotive's largest trading partner – for now.
