UK automotive body, the SMMT, said British car market numbers have the capacity to grow yet further, following the announcement this week of output reaching 1.125m units this year, up 3.9%.
The positive news also extended to September numbers, with nearly 141,000 cars built, up 9.9%, compared to the same period last year.
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“Yes, September was the biggest month since 2008, [but] we have still not reached the peak of 2005,” SMMT chief executive, Mike Hawes, told just-auto at today’s UK ‘Meet the Funder’ event designed to bring British suppliers and the financial community together.
“You might say that was an artificially high level, but certainly there seems to be increasing, consistent confidence coming back into the market. We are optimistic this current level will increase some more.”
The SMMT chief executive, a former Toyota, Bentley and Volkswagen PR man recently installed in the top job, welcomed the UK government’s staunch support for the domestic automotive industry but cautioned the challenge for both parties was to turn “strategies into reality – it is time for delivery”.
Hawes also identified the need for government and the auto industry to work together on skills and ensure that in a regulated business environment, such a landscape was “globally competitive”.
That key relationship between the SMMT and government will be further underlined next week, when the organisation hosts an all-party parliamentary motor group event at Westminster for UK politicians with an interest in the sector, of which there appear to be a considerable number.
“Let’s face it, the motor industry in the UK, yes, there are hotspots, but just about every member of parliament has a constituency interest in the motor industry, be [it] from manufacturing or suppliers,” said Hawes.
Earlier today, KPMG forecast the UK car output could peak at 1.9m in 2017.
