Record British car exports

By Ben Oliver

Motor Industry

29 January 2008 11:27

Britain exported more cars in 2007 than in any previous year, with total production up six percent to over 1.5 million.

A record 1.18m cars, or 77 percent of production, were sent overseas. Britain’s record year for car production was 1972, when 1.9m cars were produced. But demand from British car-buyers for British-made cars was much higher then. In 2007, just 15 percent of cars sold in the UK were made there.

Britain’s new car sales were also up in 2007, by 2.5 per cent to 2.4 million. The surge in exports comes despite flat demand in western Europe and the United States, the strength of sterling and strong competition from low-cost, high-quality new factories in eastern Europe. China has yet to start significant exports to major markets.

After declining to under a million in 1980, Britain’s car production last peaked in 1999 at 1.8 million. After the closure of Peugeot’s Ryton plant and the failure of MG Rover at Longbridge it slumped back to 1.44m in 2006.

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By Ben Oliver