No Summer Slowdown for U.K. Auto Makers

U.K. auto makers boosted production 16.2% year-on-year in August to 91,282 units, with domestic demand fueling most of the increase.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders says last month’s output typically is the year's smallest number due to summer and retooling breaks. But the third successive monthly gain raised year-to-date volumes 3.1% to 984,545 units.

Despite August’s typical slowdown, “The past 12 months has been the most productive since late 2008,” SMMT CEO Mike Hawes says in a statement.

Production for the home market during the month surged 21.1% to 20,298 units, while export builds climbed 14.8% to 70,984. After eight months, output jumped 25.7% to 211,947, while export activity fell 1.8% to 772,598.

SMMT says weak European Union demand and domestic restructuring continued to push commercial-vehicle production lower in August, down 51.1% from year-ago to 3,694 units. This left the CVs builds in the first eight months down 16.6% to 60,646. The industry expects output to remain subdued through the rest of the year.

“Focused almost entirely on the European market, U.K. commercial-vehicle manufacturing has been impacted by ongoing uncertainty in eurozone countries, model changes and restructuring of some domestic operations,” Hawes says.

“We expect overall commercial-vehicle output to remain negative through the rest of the year, but some sectors may fare better with recent increases in demand for U.K.-built trucks and buses.”

CV manufacturing for the U.K. market plunged 63.3% in August compared with year-ago to just 1,338 units, leaving the 8-month total down 8.0% to 27,539. Export builds tumbled 40.5% to 2,356 for a year-to-date total down 22.6% to 33,107.

Typically subdued August engine-manufacturing output fell 16.4% in the month to 124,614 units, but remained up 0.3% year-to-date to 1,673,886.

Engines produced for the domestic market rose 1.3% to 62,543 units for an 8-month total up 10.0% to 677,991. Export engine output tumbled 28.9% for the month to 62,071 and was down 5.4% for the year to 995,895.