Uk Motor Industry 2010

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Although severely depleted over the years with much production being shifted to Eastern Europe or the Far East there is still optimism within the British car industry. Seven volume car manufacturers still have a presence in the country and the majority of global components suppliers are UK based.

The industry has a £52 billion turnover annually and sustains over 180,000 jobs within car manufacturing. There are more than 30 companies that are UK based from car, van and bus producers along with eight formula one teams that call the UK home. British innovation is also leading the way in the research and development of cleaner, greener engines with much work on lower CO2 emission engines being carried out here.

There has been knock on effects as a result of the economic downturn and car production has fallen over the last year with figures showing a 55% drop in manufacture over 2009. Nissan are the countries highest producer with 338,150 units, followed by BMW Mini, which is the most manufactured model in the UK, with 213,670 rolling off the production lines.

Registration of new cars saw a decline as well, ...
... with a 6.4% drop over 2009 and around 404.000 less vehicles being bought when compared to 2007. Ford are still the leading selling car, with the Ford Fiesta topping the petrol table and the Ford Focus the most popular diesel car. The superminis are still the leading category of car as well, taking 37.2% of the market share and increasing on 2008 figure.

Environmental issues came more to the forefront during 2009 with more consumers wanting greener, efficient and recyclable cars on the roads. The car with the lowest CO2 emissions proved to be the Smart Fortwo diesel at 88g/km and vehicles across all segments achieving a lowering of emission rates, the greatest improvement was in the min segment where a 6.7% was made.

There have been a number of technological advances within the cabin that have also improved eco-driving. Developments such as stop/start buttons, tyre pressure monitors, gearshift indicators and low rolling resistance tyres that improve fuel efficiency have all added to the greening of the industry. End of Life Vehicle initiatives have also had their effects felt and 85% of destroyed cars can now be claimed and recycled for reuse. This is a 10% increase over the last 10 years and sees 95% of new cars being able to be reclaimed.

So what about the future? Legislation passed within the EU looks set to demand more changes from the industry with the target of reducing new car average emissions to below 130g/km by 2015. This equates to all petrol cars running at 52mpg and diesels 58mpg. Manufacturers who fail to reach these levels will see hefty fines and penalties taken out against them for every additional gram of CO2 emitted.
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