9:10 am, August 28, 2025
UK vehicle manufacturing slumped by more than 10% last month, despite an increase in cars rolling off British production lines.
That is according to fresh SMMT data which has revealed that the overall figures were dragged down by a major decline in commercial vehicle production.
Car production rose for the second month in a row in July with data showing that 69,127 units were made during the seventh month of the year.
That figure represents a year-on-year rise of 5.6% but was not enough to balance out a significant drop off when it came to commercial vehicles.
Commercial vehicle output fell by 81.1% compared to 12 months ago, which saw the highest figures for 17 years.
As a result, total production numbers across the board were down at 72,006 – a decline of 10.8% when compared to the same month of 2024.
The SMMT has put the drop down to ‘plant restructuring’ and backed the industry to recover quickly.
Chief executive Mike Hawes said: ‘It remains a turbulent time for automotive manufacturing, with consumer confidence weak, trade flows volatile and massive investment in new technologies underway both here and abroad.
‘Given this backdrop, another month of growing car output is good news – signalling the sector’s underlying resilience in the face of intense global competition.’
The latest figures mean total vehicle production has fallen 11.7% in the first seven months of the year compared to 2024, although the SMMT said the latest forecast predicts a rid of 6.4% in 2026.
Car production for domestic markets rose by 13.6% in July while exports – which accounted for 79.4% of output – were up by 3.7%.
After three months of falling numbers, exports to the largest single national market in the US increased by 6.8% to almost 10,000 units while cars for Turkey (35.4%) and Japan (14.9%) also saw significant increases.
Exports to the EU fell by 7.9% and to China by 7.1%.
