UK car production down 59%

The number of new cars produced last month in the UK crashed 59%, official figures showed today.

With vehicle companies cutting back drastically on production, just 59,777 cars were made in February 2009, representing a huge drop on the February 2008 total, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said.

Commercial vehicle (CV) production fell even more sharply, going down 71.6% compared with February 2008.

The SMMT said today that more than 300,000 units have been lost from total vehicle output in the past 14 months.

SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt went on: "The large fall in February's vehicle production is a direct result of weak demand and the need to protect the highly-skilled workforce and valuable industrial capability in the UK automotive sector.

"We have seen action to encourage longer-term investment, but still require Government support for short-time working, easier access to finance and credit and the implementation of a vehicle scrappage scheme."

The depressing figures will come as little surprise, as there have been a series of announcements in recent weeks of production cuts, plant closures, job losses and reduced working weeks within the motor industry.

The Honda motor company has halted all production at its plant at Swindon in Wiltshire until June, while Ford is on a four-day week and some other plants are on three-day weeks.

Production figures for the first few months of last year were still good but an autumn downturn led to the year-end figures showing a 5.7% dip in car production in 2008 compared with 2007, with CV production falling 5.9%.

With new car sales falling fast at the end of last year, car production in December 2008 was 47.5% down compared with December 2007, with CV production going down 56.7%.

There were even worse figures in January this year, with car production falling 58.7% and CV production down nearly 60%.

The depth of the pit which the motor industry is in was demonstrated yesterday when the SMMT announced that the 2010 British International Motor Show was being cancelled because the recession had made it "impossible for exhibitors to commit to a 2010 event".