UK car production has plummeted

Annual car output is less than half what it was before Brexit and the pandemic.

An employee works on the production line at the Nissan Motor Co. production plant in Sunderland, U.K. Photo by Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg via Getty Images

UK car production has plummeted since its withdrawal from the European Union and the Covid-19 lockdown.

In September 2016, shortly after the Brexit referendum, car output (a rolling annual total) stood at 1.71 million units. It now stands at less than half that total (0.78 million). Britain's departure from the EU has made it more difficult for manufacturers to acquire and move parts, and there have been post-Covid supply chain problems.

Car exports fell by 7.4 per cent last month to 48,956 units, driven by reductions in shipments to the EU, the US and China, although the number exported to Australia, South Korea and Turkey increased.