It’s been a significant week for the UK commercial vehicle industry. Production in particular has had mixed fortunes – while there was a decline in output in October, volumes remain at a 16-year high in the year to date, according to SMMT figures published today. The sector has posted a strong performance for some time now, so we’re right to feel a sense of pride in our sector and the contribution we make to the UK and economy and society, keeping businesses on the move.
The industry also helps fly the flag for UK manufacturing as an export-led sector with three in five British-built commercial vehicles going to overseas markets in October. However, a -11.6% decline in shipments last month emphasises the importance of a strong domestic market for growth, vital to sustain the UK’s attractiveness as a location for manufacturing investment. Longer term questions are being asked over this – as reflected by the announcement of a consultation over closing Luton’s van factory, with zero emission model production moving to Ellesmere Port while ICE model output will go abroad.
All vehicle makers prefer to build close to where they sell, so having workable market regulations in place is crucial – which is the announcement of a review of the zero-emission vehicle mandate is most welcome. SMMT has for some time engaged constructively with government to highlight how conditions have changed from when the regulation was first proposed, and how action is needed to ensure that we can still deliver on our ambition of rapid decarbonisation without deindustrialisation.
Making manufacturing more attractive in the UK also means making our energy more affordable, strengthening our trading relationships and skilling up our workforce, all things which SMMT set out in our Vision 2035 report published earlier this year. Delivering these advantages won’t just benefit any one sector in the automotive industry, it raises all of us – something which was made clear at the inaugural meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Buses this week. The APPG, led by Alex Baker MP whose constituency has an R&D facility for one of the UK’s major bus manufacturers, will bring together industry and government to promote British bus manufacturing, the development of zero emission mobility and scaling up our wider supply chain which supports thousands of jobs across the UK.
As SMMT’s Chief Executive Mike Hawes made clear at this week’s 107th SMMT Annual Dinner – attended by UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, the Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP – a globally successful manufacturing base in 2024 and beyond cannot be achieved without an industrial strategy and cross-collaboration between industry and government. The launch of the APPG has been well timed with the Better Buses Bill expected to be brought before Parliament in the next couple of months, but an industrial strategy cannot come soon enough.
