Geneva Motor Show: Essential UK automotive facts

As Europe’s fourth largest manufacturer of cars, a major international producer of engines and components and a leader in automotive R&D, engineering, design and development, the UK motor industry will be out in force at next week’s Geneva motor show.

The facts and figures below demonstrate the growing importance of UK automotive:

Economy

• Manufacturing growth is driving economic recovery.
• Automotive turnover accounts for two thirds of the UK’s overall manufacturing total.
• Typical UK automotive turnover is around £50bn.
• UK automotive represents around 3% of total GDP.
• Annual net value-added to the economy in excess of £10bn.
• The industry employs over 700,000 people.
• The supply chain represents about 40% of the retail price of a passenger car.
• The combined UK purchasing spend of UK-based automotive, commercial vehicle and yellow goods manufacturers is £7.4bn per annum. The amount purchased in the UK equates to approximately 36% of their global purchasing spend.
• The UK automotive supply chain typically generates £4.5 – £5bn of added value annually.
• The UK supplier spends on average £36mn, of which 46% is spent in the UK.
• Around 2,350 UK companies regard themselves as ‘automotive’ suppliers, employing around 82,000 people (data as of the end of 2009).
• It is estimated that every job in the vehicle assembly supports 7.5 elsewhere in the economy.

Manufacturing

• The UK is home to:

o    Seven volume car manufacturers.

o    10 commercial vehicle manufacturers.

o    Eight bus and coach manufacturers.

o    More than 10 niche and specialist vehicle manufacturers.

o    Eight Formula One teams.

• Over one million vehicles and two million engines are produced in the UK each year.
• Automotive manufacturing levels are set grow to pre-recession levels by 2014.
• More than 75% of vehicles manufactured in the UK are exported.
• Pre-recession new car production in 2007 (1,534,567 units) showed a 73% increase on the 1982 low of 887,679 units.
• On average, 74% of UK-based suppliers manufacture in the UK, as opposed to those who assemble or distribute components.
• At present, about 80% of all component types required for vehicle assembly operations can be procured from UK suppliers.
• 42% of UK suppliers classify themselves as first tier suppliers, 19% classify as second-tier suppliers while 34% categorise themselves as both first- and second-tier suppliers.

Business environment

• The UK is the number one European country in Business Monitor’s latest rankings of ‘Business Environment’.
• The Automotive Council is a partnership between industry and government overseeing the strategic direction of the UK motor industry.

Eco Credentials

• Since 2000, CO₂ emissions of new cars registered in the UK have fallen by 20%.
• Emissions from the entire UK car parc have fallen by 7.8% despite the number of cars on the road growing by more than 10%.
• The reduction of CO₂ output for UK vehicles is consistently quicker than the European average.