The UK is now building fewer cars than in the 1950s and that's inexplicable to me

It hurts me to admit this, but we have to acknowledge a major problem before taking realistically workable measures to rapidly rectify it.

So here goes: on the world stage, Britain’s automotive business is currently looking and performing like a low-volume cottage industry. Long-established car-building nations Germany and Japan, relative newcomers such as China and South Korea – plus dark horse countries like the Czech Republic and Spain – all now wipe the floor with the UK in terms of the number of cars produced.

Sure, the likes of Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, McLaren and Gordon Murray Automotive are still among the best in the world at designing and building proper luxury, sports, super or hyper cars. But the nature of such magnificent, high-end beasts is that only a comparatively tiny number of buyers can afford them, so they’re inevitably produced in tiny numbers. It’s the less glamorous, quicker and easier-to-build, high-volume, massively-more-affordable models that create the all-important manufacturing jobs in big numbers. And the harsh truth is that we no longer make enough of them. That’s why UK automotive growth, exports, employment levels and tax revenues (from businesses, but also from employees) all suffer.

A week or so ago, the Society of Motor Manufacturers admitted that UK vehicle production numbers have just plummeted to their lowest level since 1952 (ignoring the Covid years). Back then, bruised and battered Britain was still something of a bomb site and desperately rebuilding after the ravages of World War 2. It had a population of around 50 million, and adults with the hunger and energy to earn a crust worked in noisy, unpleasant vehicle manufacturing factories that were archaic by today’s standards. Now, 73 years later, with 70 million residents and considerably quieter, cleaner plants, we’re producing less than in the early fifties. That’s inexplicable.

The UK Government must step up to offer job and tax-generation help, legislation and assistance – including meaningful financial incentives for Brits to buy more Brit-built cars. Our domestic industry needs to help itself by thinking harder and working more productively – just as the Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Germans and South Koreans do.

And just as Brit consumers often make a point of spending their money on farm and orchard produce, drinks, music, film, fashion and art from the UK, shouldn’t we be thinking the same about our locally produced, volume-built cars and LCVs? If the answer’s yes, what better time than now for us to do our bit for our nation and local auto workers by investing in more home-grown vehicles? The BBBC (Buy British-Built Cars) campaign could – and perhaps should – start right here, right now.

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