UK demand for cars built in the country declined by a massive 47.2% in June — the result of “a perfect storm”, according to the UK’s automotive industry body.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the fall was not only due to uncertainty on diesel cars and the “cataclysmic fall in consumer confidence” but was also due to the effects of new WLTP emissions tests coming into force on 1 September. Car makers are struggling to complete tests on all models ahead of that deadline, resulting in delays.
Hawes added that other key reasons include model changes from certain manufacturers and model allocation per country changing globally at some brands.
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While this initially appears a dismal situation, the bigger picture is more optimistic. Overall UK production figures for June, including both domestic and foreign demand, fell just 5.5% compared with June 2017, with 128,799 cars built. Cars made for export balanced out the weak UK demand, rising 6% year on year.
Half-year production figures down 3.3%
In the first half of the year, the number of cars built in the UK dropped by 3.3%, amounting to 834,402 units. In that period, UK demand dropped 12.9% and car exports fell by just 0.8%.
Hawes said the SMMT’s earlier prediction that 1.6 million cars would be built in the UK in 2018 remained likely, representing a 0.2% drop on 2017.
He admitted that he was “surprised at the severity” of the almost 50% drop in UK demand in June but said he spoke to a number of car makers, all of whom described it as the “perfect storm”. He was keen to stress that we “must not look at the month in isolation”.
Hawes added that he expected the drop in UK demand to stabilise at a lower level of decline by autumn. More generally, the half-year manufacturing figures were “broadly in line with expectations”.
Individual car makers do not release their individual UK manufacturing figures. However, Britain’s largest car manufacturer, Jaguar Land Rover is believed to have produced around quarter of a million cars in the UK in the first six months of 2018, slightly down on last year. Jaguar Land Rover is not thought to have had many issues with WLTP testing, so its decline is more likely to be affected by falling diesel sales – something the car maker has previously flagged as problematic – and changing model cycles. The updated Range Rover and Range Rover Sport only started production in spring and a new Evoque is expected later this year, which is likely to mean people are holding off buying one.
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WLTP is Cancer!
Worth noting how WLTP has decimated Jaguar's range. Killing off the petrol V6 in every vehicle except the F-Type and killing off the V8 in the XJ.
So the vehicles in Jaguar's range that are most true to the brand's character, its heritage and, importantly, its marketing are now dead.
I had been considering buying a petrol XE S as my next car.
I will not buy a 4-cylinder Jaguar! Simple as that!
Maybe if we're lucky one day we will have a government that sees the pointlessness of WLTP and the Paris Climate Agreement. Until then I guess we'll just have to lump it!
Brexit extremists
One of the favorite arguments of the extremists is that after Brexit we will punish the German by buying British :)
+1 Andrew1
Well, we would if we could but seeing as no such thing exists the Brexiteers might just implode when they try and work it out...here's hoping...
Car testing....
whatever type of testing is done the Car makers it will never replicate everyday Driving, you might get an average but you’ll never get an accurate figure, why hasn’t there been a survey done say when your buying your next Car asking about your driving habits, what mpg you were getting and so on?, this might give them some numbers to crunch, might not cover all models, might take a long tome to collate too, but, at least you’d have realistic mpg figures.....
I think you're half correct
But that's not really what it's for. Testing should provide reasonable MPG and emissions data on a like for like basis to allow consumers and authorities to compare vehicles with one another when deciding what to buy, or deciding how best to implement taxes/emission control interventions.
I certainly agree with you that it would be an excellent service for a manufacturer to be able to use a potential customer's driving data to provide a bespoke projected MPG for a particular model, something for the premium brands to think about! But, it shouldn't replace the more universal testing
Peter Cavellini wrote:
This is the key point; your mileage depends hugely on how you drive. We run a fleet of cars and track distance travelled/economy among our drivers. You can see bare in the stats that different drivers get *vastly* different economy. One driver here gets 60+mpg out of a 320ED, while another regularly gets 45; a 25% difference. Of course, we've had a chat with Mr Heavy Right Foot...
Peter Cavellini wrote:
HJ website has that sort of survey:
https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/real-mpg/
It's not perfect but then what subjective survey is?