• Annual UK car production falls -9.8% to 775,014 units in 2022 as global chip shortages and structural changes depress output.

• Record levels of electrified vehicle production with almost a third of all cars made fully electric or hybrid – worth £10 billion in exports alone.

• Volumes for UK rise 9.4% but fail to offset declining exports, down -14.0%, with some eight in 10 cars shipped overseas.

• Auto sector, which is integral to levelling up, net zero and advancing global Britain, calls for dedicated framework to drive rapid upscaling of UK battery production and shift to EVs.

LONDON, Jan. 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — UK car production declined -9.8% in 2022 to 775,014 units, according to the latest figures issued today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). December rounded off a volatile year, with output down -17.9% in the month after growth in October and November, with most of the year’s volume loss occurring in the first half.

The annual total was 84,561 units down on 2021 and -40.5% off the 1,303,135 cars made in 2019 pre-pandemic, equivalent to a loss of more than half a million cars.¹ The main reasons for the depressed output were the crippling global shortage of semiconductors, which limited the ability to build cars in line with demand; significant structural changes, reflecting a loss of production at two volume manufacturing sites; and the impact of supply chain pauses in China due to Covid…