UK automobile and automobile output falls to 76-year low in Might

U.Okay. automobile manufacturing fell sharply for a fifth straight month in Might, in response to new figures, as headwinds together with U.S. President Donald Trump‘s commerce coverage hit the automotive business laborious.

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

It implies that, excluding 2020, when factories have been shuttered throughout Covid-19 lockdowns, U.Okay. automobile output hit its lowest degree since 1949 in Might.

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

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

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

In early Might, nevertheless, Trump signed an government order to cut back the levy paid by U.S.-based companies on British automobiles to 10% for the primary 100,000 automobiles imported annually.

U.Okay. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on the time that the discount in automobile tariffs would save a whole lot of tens of millions of kilos a 12 months for Jaguar Land Rover alone.

“Whereas 2025 has proved to be an extremely difficult 12 months for UK automotive manufacturing, there’s the beginnings of some optimism for the longer term,” Mike Hawes, chief government of SMMT, mentioned 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 position the sector performs in driving financial development, ought to assist restoration,” Hawes mentioned.

The automotive sector is recognized because the engine room of Britain’s worldwide commerce. Final 12 months, for instance, the U.Okay. exported £9 billion ($12.36 billion) price of automobiles into the U.S., accounting for greater than 27% of whole U.Okay. exports.

Up to now this 12 months, whole U.Okay. automobile manufacturing is down 12.9% from 2024 to 348,226 items, SMMT mentioned. It means whole automobile manufacturing has fallen to its lowest degree since 1953.