Four charts which show what happened to the car industry in 2020 January 28, 2021 Months of shuttered factories and enforced social distancing due to Covid-19 saw the fewest cars manufactured in the UK since 1984 last year. Just 920,928 models rolled off production lines in 2020, the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said today. That’s 29.3 per cent down on last year, when over 1.3m cars were [...]
Car industry straps in for rough ride in 2021 January 23, 2021 2020 was one of the worst years the UK car industry has ever experienced, with shuttered factories and closed showrooms due to Covid-19 leading to a record slump in production and sales. But barring a disaster on the same scale, the industry is confident that it will begin to recover this year, even though the [...]
McLaren poaches Talktalk finance chief to steer equity raise January 22, 2021 Iconic supercar maker McLaren has poached Talk Talk’s finance chief Kate Ferry as the firm continues its post-Covid restructuring programme. Ferry will take up the role of group chief financial officer at the Woking-based firm in April, McLaren announced today. She is currently handling the transformation of the listed mobile operator into a private firm [...]
Nissan commitment a ‘vote of confidence’ in UK, says Johnson January 22, 2021 Boris Johnson has today hailed Nissan after the Japanese carmaker said that Brexit could be an “opportunity” for the firm. As a result of the free trade deal with the EU, Nissan said that the future of its plant in Sunderland was secure. It added that it would move additional battery production capacity to the [...]
The UK has conceptualised 21st century tech – now it’s time for us to make it, too January 21, 2021 Few people would argue that the lithium ion batteries which power our smartphones, or the flat-screen televisions sitting in millions of living rooms across the world, were not game-changing scientific innovations. Fewer still would be aware that the research and conceptualisation behind these innovations was conducted here in the UK. So too, in fact, was [...]
Lotus owner Geely to develop smart car technology with Tencent January 19, 2021 Lotus and Volvo owner Geely announced this morning it has signed an agreement with Tencent to develop smart vehicle technology. The company said it aims to transform car cockpits to enable more mobility service applications, alongside testing autonomous driving. The Geely and Tencent partnership is the latest in a series of tech and auto companies [...]
Audi latest carmaker to delay production amid parts shortages January 18, 2021 Audi has become the latest carmaker to be forced into delaying production due to a global shortage of semi-conductors. The German auto giant has had to put more than 10,000 of its staff on furlough as a result of the lack of chips, chief executive Markus Duesmann told the FT. The production pause comes after [...]
Britishvolt: The batterymaker leading the charge towards the 2030 diesel car ban January 14, 2021 2020 was a dire year for the UK car industry, but buried amid the reports of tumbling vehicle sales was one piece of promising news. For the first time ever, sales of electric vehicles comprised 10 per cent of all new car sales, figures from auto body the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) [...]
European car giants count cost of dire year for auto industry January 12, 2021 European car giants this morning began to lay out of the full cost of the coronavirus pandemic on their performances in 2020. Over the course of the year, vehicle sales plummeted as factories and showrooms were shuttered around the world. French auto firm Renault said that worldwide sales fell 21.3 per cent last year as [...]
Jaguar Land Rover secures second straight quarter of sales growth January 11, 2021 Jaguar Land Rover closed out a brutal year for the car industry with a second successive quarter of sales growth, the luxury car brand reported today. The auto firm sold 128,469 cars in the last quarter, up 13.1 per cent from 113,569 vehicles sold in the preceding quarter. However, as a result of the pandemic, [...]