Automotive manufacturing within the U.Ok. slumped by 6.7% to only 859,575 models in 2021, new figures revealed by the Society of Motor Producers and Merchants present.
In an announcement Thursday, the SMMT mentioned the output represented the “worst whole since 1956” and was 34% decrease than 2019, the 12 months earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
Whereas the headline figures for 2021 are disappointing — the SMMT pinpointed the semiconductor scarcity as being the “principal reason behind the decline” — the low and zero-emission section of the sector supplied some gentle amid the gloom.
The SMMT mentioned that British factories manufactured a document quantity of battery electrical, hybrid electrical and plug-in hybrid autos in 2021, with a complete of 224,011 being made. This represents a 26.1% share of all vehicles produced final 12 months.
“Extra positively, the shift to electrified automobile manufacture continued apace as BEV manufacturing surged 72.0%,” the SMMT mentioned, “whereas hybrids rose 16.4%, because the UK business — just like the market — transforms right into a low and, in the end, zero-carbon business.”
The U.Ok. desires to cease the sale of latest diesel and gasoline vehicles and vans by 2030. It’s going to require, from 2035, all new vehicles and vans to have zero tailpipe emissions. The duty is big and the sector continues to be dominated by autos operating on fossil fuels.
Though the market has been considerably affected by the pandemic, clients’ habits might nonetheless be on the verge of a big change.
A document 190,727 new battery electrical vehicles have been registered within the U.Ok. final 12 months, in accordance with the SMMT, with Tesla’s Mannequin 3 the best-selling battery electrical mannequin. Certainly, the Mannequin 3 was the second hottest new automotive general behind the Vauxhall Corsa, the business physique says.
In a launch earlier this month, the SMMT described 2021 because the “most profitable 12 months in historical past for electrical automobile uptake.” It mentioned that extra new battery electrical autos had been registered in 2021 than over the 5 earlier years mixed.