We are pleased to report more positive news for the motor trade industry here in the UK with yet another month of growth in the building of cars in July 2023. According to data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) the volume of new cars produced rose for the 6th month in a row.
In July 2023, there were 76,451 new cars built in the UK compared to 58,074 in July 2022. That is an impressive rise of 31.6%. Of those new cars built in July 2023 13,187 were for the home market with this being a 13.7% increase when compared with the same month last year. There were 63,264 new cars manufactured in July 2023 for the export market compared to 46,479 in July 2022 – a very large rise of 36.1%. As you can see, much larger numbers of new cars built ended up being exported.
On a year to date basis to July 2023, the total number of new cars built amounted to 526,619. For the same period last year the figure was 461,205. That is a large rise of 14.2%. Of those new cars constructed this year 103,415 were for the home market compared to 97,963 for the same period in 2022 – a rise of 5.6%. there were 423,204 new cars built for export in the 7 months to July 2023 compared to 363,242 for the same period last year – a rise of 16.5%. That meant that 80.4% of new cars manufactured in the 7 months to July 2023 were for export.
Not wishing to put a damper on the above figures, it should be noted that in July 2019 there were 108,239 new cars built with this being before COVID 19. That is over 29% more than in July 2023.
Another interesting statistic relates to the building of electric cars. Almost 40% of new cars built in July 2023 were electric.
Let us hope that we continue to see the number of new cars being built here in the UK rise in future months and that production exceeds pre-pandemic days.
