British car production at its lowest since the Suez crisis in 1956 Business News

British auto production suddenly collapsed in July’s worst performance since 1956, official figures show.

Auto factories produced just 53,438 engines last month, a drop of 37.6% from the same month a year earlier.

A global shortage of microchips and staff absences due to “pindemia” are behind the collapse in production figures, according to industry experts.

Overall production figures for 2021 have only increased by 18.3% (or 552,361 cars) year on year – compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, the figures are down 28.7%.

The poor performance and impact of the pandemic led the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) to reduce its production forecast for 2021 from 1.05 million to around 950,000, The temperature reported.

The industry body, which is collating the numbers, said the sudden drop must prompt the government to step in and help.

“These figures expose the extremely difficult conditions that UK carmakers continue to face,” said Mike Hawes, Managing Director of SMMT. “While the impact of pingemia will diminish as the rules for self-isolation change, the global semiconductor shortage shows little sign of abating.”

The numbers were also the last month to record exits from the Honda plant in Swindon. The production line manager ended last month as the factory returned to Japan.

Honda was the UK’s fifth largest car maker, before the pandemic, producing around 110,000 Civic sedans a year.

A chip shortage has been the biggest pressure on producers and it was reported this week that Jaguar Land Rover was suffering from long delays on vehicles due to the shortfall.

According to a briefing note sent to leasing companies viewed by Liverpool Business News, Jaguar Land Rover said it would continue to take quotes and orders, but warned that retailers should be informed that deliveries will take a long time. longer due to “extended delivery times”.

Volkswagen also recently warned that it expects a further cut in vehicle production in the coming months. Toyota said it was running out of supplies and would cut auto production by 40% from September. This happened despite the Japanese company having stored chips for years.

An average new car needs 1,500 microchips.

Mike Hawes, SMMT, said: “The government can help by continuing the Covid measures in place and strengthening our competitiveness, with reduced energy taxes and trade tariffs for a strategically important sector to achieve net zero . ”

In better news, Mr Hawes added: “More than a quarter of all cars made in July were hybrid or all-electric, which means the UK has produced 126,757 of these important products this year.”