UK automotive car production falls -41.5% in September
- British car production falls -41.5% in September with 67,169 units leaving factory gates.
- Global chip shortage continues to plague production costing suppliers more than £2.4 billion.
- Better news for battery electric and hybrid car manufacturing as almost a third of all cars made in UK are now electrified, a new record
UK car production fell -41.5% in September, the third consecutive month of decline, with 67,169 cars manufactured – the worst performing September since 1982 – according to the latest figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
https://www.smmt.co.uk/2021/10/uk-automotive-car-production-falls-41-5-in-september/
Engine production falls -36.3% in September
- UK factories produced 138,059 engines last month, a decline of -36.3%.
- Output for both domestic and export markets falls by -42.0% and -32.6% respectively.
- Year-to-date engine manufacturing fell -2.8% to 1,278,117 units compared to 2020 and remains -33.9% below the five-year average.
https://www.smmt.co.uk/2021/10/engine-production-falls-36-3-in-september/
Vehicles remain Britain’s most valuable trade good, as export revenues reach £27 billion
- SMMT calls for automotive sector to be the engine of the UK’s future international trade deals after new report reveals vehicles are the nation’s most valuable exported good, worth £27 billion.
- Total automotive sector trade drops -26% during pandemic-hit 2020 but still reaches £74 billion, benefiting every UK region.
- Long-term global car market growth provides major opportunity to accelerate economy.
- Supportive Rules of Origin to reflect post-Brexit supplier base and gigafactory investment will aid Global Britain in leading worldwide transition to electric vehicles.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has called on 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.
Ford is to invest £230m in its Halewood plant on Merseyside to make electric car parts, helping safeguard 500 jobs. The investment will mean the plant will run for many years longer, said Stuart Rowley, president, Ford of Europe.
There had been speculation about the future of the Halewood factory complex as Ford moves towards electrifying its vehicles.
Part of the investment will come from the government’s Automotive Transformation Fund.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58946978
Plans have been unveiled to expand the solar farm at Nissan in Sunderland with the aim of making the plant run entirely on green energy.
The proposed 37,000-solar panels extension would be a further step in Nissan’s ambition to become carbon neutrality, the firm said.
Sunderland City Council is now considering the application.
If approved, it would result in 20% of the plant’s energy coming from onsite renewables.
This would mean enough to build every single zero-emission Nissan Leaf sold in Europe, the company said.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-58929250
The Chinese language firm behind the UK’s sole “gigafactory” is planning an enormous growth of the venture and trying to spin off its electrical car battery division because it builds its European enterprise.
Zhang Lei, chief government of Envision, mentioned the Sunderland facility’s annual capability would ultimately rise to 38 gigawatt hours, enabling the positioning to supply batteries for lots of hundreds extra electrical vehicles annually.
The plans would mark a steep enhance from the 1.7GWh capability at a smaller current plant and 11GWh when the positioning’s new plant is because of open.
Manufacturing from the primary section of the Sunderland plant growth is ready to start out in 2024 as a part of a partnership with Nissan UK.
Envision’s $2.4bn gigafactory in Douai, France, in partnership with Renault, can also be on account of open in 2024.
Zhang mentioned the corporate was in talks with world carmakers to produce batteries from the 2 websites. Envision additionally has battery crops in Japan, the US and China.
https://www.universalpersonality.com/uks-first-gigafactory-set-for-huge-expansion/business/
UK commercial vehicle output increases modestly in September
- 7,799 commercial vehicles produced during September, a modest increase of 1.8% on 2020, but output remains -8.1% below the five-year average for the month.
- Exports of commercial vehicles fell by -12.4%, but output for the domestic market increased by 27.3%.
- Year-to-date production remains 15.4% up on a weak 2020, thanks to robust increases earlier this year, but down -19.5% on the pre-pandemic average.
UK commercial vehicle (CV) production increased to 7,799 units in September, according to the latest figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). After production declined by over a third (-35.1%) in August, September saw a modest increase of 1.8% compared to a strong September 2020 when production volumes were driven by the fulfilment of several large fleet orders.
https://www.smmt.co.uk/2021/10/uk-commercial-vehicle-output-increases-modestly-in-september/
Jaguar Land Rover has joined Tesla’s manufacturer pool for European Union CO2 emissions, a move that’s likely designed to help the firm avoid paying fines for missing its targets.
Under EU rules, car firms are required to achieve increasingly tough average CO2 emissions targets for their car fleets. Any that misses its target faces a heavy fine of €95 (£77) per vehicle per g/km.
However, the EU does allow car firms to combine their fleets into pools, which it then counts as a single entity when determining average CO2 emissions. That has led to a number of deals with firms set to miss their fleet targets paying manufacturers with low emissions to join a pool.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has now joined Honda in a pool that was formed by Tesla, with the move confirmed on the European Commission website, having been initially reported by industry analyst Matthias Schmidt.