UK car manufacturing rose by 3.3% in August, with 92,158 units produced, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) (www.smmt.co.uk) .

This increase, the first in 15 months, was due mainly to the fact that several key plants that had brought forward planned summer shutdowns to April (to guard against the disruption of the then 29 March EU withdrawal date) kept production lines rolling throughout August.

Just 2,903 more cars were produced in August 2019 than in August 2018, but this was not enough to compensate for April’s 56,999-unit loss, resulting in a 17% deficit in the first eight months of 2019, with 866,918 cars produced (this was the first time output has dipped below 1 million units in this eight-month period since 2014, and the biggest year-on-year decline since 2011).

In August, production for the domestic market was up 15.2% following a significant fall in August 2018, when several factors — notably preparation for new EU-wide testing regulations, affected output.

Exports registered a marginal growth of 0.6%, although this disguises on-going weakness in major global markets in the first eight months, with production for China down 43.8%, exports to the USA falling 9.1% and those to the EU falling 13.7%.

That said, exports still account for eight out of every 10 cars built in Britain — with the EU taking more than half (55.4%).

Meanwhile, UK commercial-vehicle (CV) manufacturing output increased by 47.9% in August, reversing four successive months of decline.

New-model production coming on stream positively impacted volumes in the month, as 5,544 units rolled off production lines, nearly 1,800 more than in August 2018 (marking the best August since 2012).

Output for overseas and home markets rose by 71.9% and 17.3% respectively, emphasising the export-led nature of British CV production. That said, in the first eight months of the year, volumes were down 13.4%, driven by a 24.5% fall in overseas orders.