UK car and vehicle output falls to 76-year low in May

According to new figures, the UK vehicle production fell sharply in May, according to new figures, as winds hit the automotive industry of the winds, including US President Donald Trump’s trade policy.

Data published On Friday by the UK’s motor manufacturers and merchants Association (SMMT), the UK’s new automobile and commercial vehicle production volumes fell by 32.8% last month.

This, except for 2020, when the factories were shut in the Covid-19 locks, the UK vehicle exit in May has reached the lowest level since 1949.

Posts to the European Union and the United States – UK’s largest markets – fell 22.5% and 55.4% last month, respectively.

The SMMT said that the dramatic slowdown in car production depends on the impact of the ongoing model replacement, restructuring and tariffs.

In early April, Trump applied a 25% tariff to all automobiles and car parts imported to the United States – a movement that temporarily pause the references of British luxury brands such as Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover to the USA

However, in early May, Trump signed an executive order to reduce the tax paid in US -based British cars to 10% for the first 100,000 cars imported every year.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in question The decrease in car tariffs will only save one hundred millions of pounds a year for Jaguar Land Rover.

“2025, the UK proves that it is an incredibly challenging year for the UK automotive production, but the SMMT General Manager Mike Hawes said.

Hawes, “a more positive relationship with the US and the EU and the critical role of the sector in directing economic growth, the help of improvement of industrial and trade strategies to improve” trade with important markets and the EU has been approved in relation to a more positive relationship. “He said.

Automotive sector reputed As the engine room of the UK’s international trade. Last year, for example, England exported £ 9 billion to the US ($ 12.36 billion) car makes more than 27% of the total UK exports.

SMMT, this year’s total UK vehicle production from 2024 to 348.226 pieces of 12.9%, he said. This means that total vehicle production has fallen to its lowest level since 1953.