UK automotive and car output falls to 76-year low in Could

U.Ok. car manufacturing fell sharply for a fifth straight month in Could, in accordance with new figures, as headwinds together with U.S. President Donald Trump‘s commerce coverage hit the automotive business arduous.

Information printed Friday by the U.Ok.’s Society of Motor Producers and Merchants (SMMT) discovered that the U.Ok.’s new automotive and business car manufacturing volumes fell by 32.8% to 49,810 items final month.

It signifies that, excluding 2020, when factories had been shuttered throughout Covid-19 lockdowns, U.Ok. car output hit its lowest degree since 1949 in Could.

Shipments to the European Union and the U.S. — the U.Ok.’s two largest markets — fell by 22.5% and 55.4%, respectively, final month.

The dramatic slowdown in automotive manufacturing is due largely to ongoing mannequin changeovers, restructuring and the affect of tariffs, SMMT stated.

In early April, Trump applied a 25% tariff on all automobiles and automotive elements imported into the U.S. — a transfer that prompted British luxurious manufacturers similar to Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover to quickly pause shipments to the U.S.

In early Could, nonetheless, Trump signed an government order to scale back the levy paid by U.S.-based corporations on British automobiles to 10% for the primary 100,000 automobiles imported every year.

U.Ok. Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated on the time that the discount in automotive tariffs would save tons of of thousands and thousands of kilos a yr for Jaguar Land Rover alone.

“Whereas 2025 has proved to be an extremely difficult yr for UK automotive manufacturing, there may be the beginnings of some optimism for the long run,” Mike Hawes, chief government of SMMT, stated in a press release.

“Confirmed commerce offers with essential markets, particularly the U.S. and a extra optimistic relationship with the EU, in addition to authorities methods on business and commerce that recognise the crucial function the sector performs in driving financial progress, ought to assist restoration,” Hawes stated.

The automotive sector is acknowledged because the engine room of Britain’s worldwide commerce. Final yr, for instance, the U.Ok. exported £9 billion ($12.36 billion) value of automobiles into the U.S., accounting for greater than 27% of whole U.Ok. exports.

Up to now this yr, whole U.Ok. car manufacturing is down 12.9% from 2024 to 348,226 items, SMMT stated. It means whole car manufacturing has fallen to its lowest degree since 1953.