UK’s car output in April stood at 68,306 units, up from 197 cars produced in the prior year month. The comparison to 2020 would be irrelevant owing to the complete lockdown in the country and shutdown of auto manufacturing units amid the pandemic.
The data was released by Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on May 27. The association has compared April 2021 levels with 2019 for fair assessment. April output is 3.8pc below April 2019 output. For January-April, UK’s car production was reported at 374,864 vehicles, down 15pc from corresponding period in 2019.
January-April production growth in 2021 was up 17.3pc from the prior year period, pushed by the significant growth in April.
April figures portrayed a shift in UK’s auto manufacturing towards electric vehicles (EVs). A total of 22.8pc of total UK car production was of battery electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid cars, compared to April 2019.
Eight out of 10 cars produced were exported to EU, China and the US. In April, 7,975 units were produced for home country and 60,331 units for exports.
The EU continues to be the most important export market for UK’s cars accounting for 52.1pc of total exports, followed by the US amounting for 17.4pc and China 7.4p.