The advent of the worldwide shortage of semi-conductors further dents the sector’s post-pandemic recovery. The UK motor industry output has declined the second month in a row in August as the months-long shortage of computer chips hampered the sector’s recovery effort.
The number of cars built in UK factories fell by 27% year-on-year to 37,200 in August, according to lobby group the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). That was down from just over 50,000 in the same month in 2020 when carmakers were racing to make up for time lost to lockdowns.
Demand in Britain and overseas recovered rapidly as economies open up again, but motor organisations around the globe have struggled to raise their output because of the disruption related to the Coronavirus – most notably the global shortage of computer chips used in everything from entertainment systems to controlling electric car batteries and windscreen wipers.
The SMMT predict the chip crisis to wipe 100,000 off Britain’s total car production this year. That would represent a huge blow for an industry that made fewer than a million cars in the past year – down from 1.7m as recently as 2017.
So far, production in 2021 is only 14% higher than in 2020, when factories were closed for months. Output is down by 32% compared with the same period in 2019.
One bright spot was the continued increase in the share of cars with batteries – both pure electric cars such as the electric Mini made in Oxford or the Nissan Leaf made in Sunderland, and hybrids that also contain an internal combustion engine. More than a quarter of all new cars made in the UK during August were electrified, a record high.
Britain intends to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, with hybrids following in 2035. Government data published on Wednesday confirmed that the US-made Tesla Model 3, has become the most popular electrified model on UK roads.
However, Mike Hawes, the SMMT’s chief executive, said the weakness of the British manufacturing output was “extremely worrying both for the sector and its many thousands of workers countrywide”.
“The impact of the semiconductor shortage on manufacturing cannot be overstated,” he said. “Carmakers and their suppliers are battling to keep production lines rolling with constraints expected to continue well into 2022 and possibly beyond.”
Motor companies across the economy will lose access to the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme this week, which supported the wage bill for furloughed workers. The scheme will close at the end of Thursday.
Hawes said: “Job support schemes such as furlough have proven such a lifeline to automotive businesses yet its cessation today comes at the worst time, with the industry still facing Covid-related stoppages which are damaging the sector and threatening the supply chain in particular. Other countries have extended their support; we need the UK to do likewise.”
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