UK car manufacturing hit a 66-year low in 2022, as the closure of two plants, a global shortage of semiconductors and the effect of COVID lockdowns in China on auto supply chains crippled output, Report informs referring to CNN.
Figures published on January 26 by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), an industry body, showed that the number of passenger cars made in Britain declined 10% year-on-year to hit 775,014.
That’s the lowest total since 1956, and 41% down on the 1.3 million cars made in 2019 before the pandemic.
The UK auto industry has suffered a series of setbacks recently, including the closure of Honda’s (HMC) Swindon plant in 2021 and BMW’s (BMWYY) announcement in October that it will end production of the electric Mini in Oxford this year.
The plant will produce internal combustion engine vehicles until those are banned in 2030.
Researchers at the Faraday Institution, Britain’s flagship battery-research program, estimated last June that by 2030, more than 1.5 million electric vehicles would be produced in the UK demanding more than 100 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery capacity annually - the equivalent of five large gigafactories running at full capacity.
As it stands, Britain has just 36.9 GWh of capacity planned for 2030, according to the report.
By contrast, European gigafactory capacity projected for 2030 is expected to reach over 1,100 GWh across more than 40 plants. The largest planned is Tesla (TSLA)’s battery plant in Germany.