New car registrations fell to their lowest levels in September for more than two decades, according to figures from the industry’s trade body.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said new registrations dropped 35% compared with the same month a year earlier.
Falling car production has been blamed on an ongoing global shortage of computer chips. However, sales of electric cars are rising rapidly, the SMMT said.
While the car market as a whole has suffered through the pandemic, more than 32,000 electric cars were registered in one month in September, almost as many as registered in the whole of 2019 – 37,850 electric cars.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58795798
Electric truck pioneer Tevva set to create 1,000 jobs at new factory in the UK.
Electric truck pioneer Tevva unveiled its new Tevva Truck at the end of September – the first British designed 7.5-tonne electric truck intended for mass production in the UK. The global electric truck market was valued at $1.15 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $14.19 billion by 20271.
The Tevva Truck has been unveiled to address the immediate industry need to electrify, with the United Kingdom and Europe committed to a target of net zero emissions by 2050 alongside a proposed ban on the sale of all polluting vehicles by 2035.
Offering a range of up to 160 miles (250 km) in pure battery electric vehicle (BEV) form or up to 310 miles (500 km) with its patented range extender technology (REX), which has now been upgraded to use hydrogen fuel cells; the Tevva Truck brings a best in class combination of capability and cost efficiency from a zero emissions medium duty truck, while offering the ruggedness and resilience of traditional trucks.
Luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover has started manufacturing its own press tools in-house for the first time following a £1.7m investment at its Halewood plant, on Merseyside.
The company had previously outsourced the production of its press tools, so this will allow it to drive efficiency and quality, as well as give employees the opportunity to learn new skills, to build and operate these tools.
The investment involves the installation of a new press die manufacturing centre, the first of its kind in Jaguar Land Rover, with a state-of-the-art five-axis milling machine, which manufactures press tools, known as blanking dies, from raw castings.
The blanking dies are the first stage in the manufacture of car body panels, during new vehicle production.
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Luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) revealed that retail sales for the three-month period to September 30, 2021, continued to be hampered by the impact of the global semiconductor shortage on production, with wholesales for the period in line with July guidance.
However, underlying demand for Jaguar Land Rover products remains strong with order books at record levels.
The group, which has manufacturing sites at Halewood on Merseyside, and Solihull and Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands, released sales figures for the second quarter period. Next month the group will update markets with its financial performance for the same period
The UK should become “a safe haven, the go-to place, for battery production”, Bentley chairman and CEO Adrian Hallmark has said.
Speaking at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ (SMMT) first Global Trade Conference, Hallmark suggested that the UK’s existing trade deal with the European Union would mean petrol and diesel cars would still be more favourable to sell than battery-electric cars in 2027, just three years out from the UK’s ban of new ICE vehicles
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has called on the government to put the automotive sector at the heart of future trade negotiations, after publishing a new report confirming vehicles as the UK’s single most valuable goods trade export.
Vehicle export revenues reached £27bn in 2020, making them more valuable to the UK than power-generating machinery and gold, even during a year when the global pandemic disrupted trade flows and shut down markets around the world.
The UK automotive sector as a whole generated a total trade revenue of £74bn.