New data on commercial vehicle production in the first six months of 2024 show some normalisation following UK manufacturers’ rapid post-pandemic recovery last year, with more than 11,500 vans, trucks, taxis, buses and coaches leaving Britain’s factories since January. With volumes just -2.9% below a really strong performance during the same period in 2023, the sector is in good health. Indeed, 2024 to date is a third above the sector’s pre-pandemic five-year output average.
This positive position has been forged thanks to long-term OEM investment in and global demand for the high quality products being made here. More than two thirds of all UK-built products have been exported so far this year and, given plants are set to ramp up zero emission vehicle output in 2025 amid rising demand in our major markets, our industry is futureproofing for greener growth. The latest independent industry outlook brings cause for us to be optimistic, with light CV production expected to grow to 110,000 units this year and then above 130,000 in 2030 given the right economic and trading conditions.
Positively, just as manufacturers are investing in decarbonisation, new political leaders are providing bus operators in particular with encouragement to place orders. Hot on the heels of the UK’s proposed Better Buses Bill, Scottish First Minister John Swinney announced government backing for an innovative bus and coach consortium, along with nationwide charging network – not just for buses and coaches but heavy goods vehicles too.
The investment comes under the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund but underlines the potential for shared infrastructure solutions involving all heavy vehicles, given their power and size requirements are not too dissimilar. As SMMT’s two recent papers on bus and truck decarbonisation show, growing green uptake requires joined-up, long-term plans for a national electric charging and hydrogen fuelling network, supporting all heavy vehicles at en-route locations, depots and shared hubs. When political support is suitably ambitious, the commercial vehicle industry is ready to deliver.