CEO Update

There remains much uncertainty in the air for UK automotive businesses, which is especially concerning in a strategic industry that works on long lead times. A number of manufacturers in the UK have already announced production pauses if we leave…

SMMT was at the Frankfurt motor show this week, a valuable chance to meet up with colleagues from across the world and see the latest launches. The overarching theme of this year’s event was very much to do with zero…

New car registrations posted an overall decline of -1.6% in August, but what is traditionally the new car market’s quietest month has the potential to throw up surprises as the market waits for the September plate change. Interesting to note…

The latest car production figures released this week by SMMT showed a -10.6% fall in output and the 14th successive month of decline. This downward trend, driven predominantly by weakness in key EU and Asian markets, has now lasted longer…

The Science and Technology Select Committee this week issued a series of recommendations for the government to meet its target for the UK of net zero emissions by 2050. Among them were ideas for the transport sector, widely reported as…

There’s still a lot of hesitancy among car buyers – both new and used. This week’s numbers released by SMMT reveal a -2.8% drop in Q2 used car transactions, with the year-to-date market down -1.7% over the same period in…

New car registrations fell some 4% last month, the lowest July market since 2012, according to the latest figures released by SMMT this week. This was the fifth consecutive month of decline as ongoing political and economic uncertainty, and confusion…

Car manufacturing in the UK dropped 20% in the first half of the year, according to the latest figures we released this week. These numbers are in part the result of global instability and weakening demand in key markets but…

It has been another seismic week in Westminster, with a new prime minister and cabinet who will have their own approach to Brexit. Our message, however, remains the same – we need a deal with the European Union that maintains…

This week we were in Parliament to launch SMMT’s 20th annual Sustainability Report, which since 1999 has sought to highlight the efforts made by UK Automotive to live up to its social, economic and environmental responsibilities. What is remarkable about…