Back in 2015, a few weeks before the Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal and seven months before Britain’s momentous decision to leave the EU, the UK’s motor industry society, the SMMT, voiced an exceptionally bold claim about the future growth of car manufacturing. This history-changing forecast was rapturously received a few weeks later by a confident, 1200-strong audience of industry luminaries at the society’s lavish annual dinner in London’s Park Lane.
The nub of the prediction was that by the end of 2015, British car production would have scored its sixth straight increase – another 15% this time – to top 1.7
