UK commercial vehicle production hit by new emission laws
Dwindling EU demand, because of region-wide restructuring and emission laws, saw commercial British vehicle manufacturing fall again in January – by 14.6 per cent.
In the month, 6,681 units rolled off production lines, with home and export markets seeing falls, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Chief executive Mike Hawes commented:
New Euro-6 engine emission legislation came into effect from January this year, a change which invariably results in a lull in UK heavy commercial vehicle manufacturing and a contributor to January’s fall.
While van production was strong in the month, the 2014 market will, for some months, continue to be affected by the Europe-wide restructuring that occurred last year.
Figures overnight painted a slightly different picture for UK car production. It dipped 0.3 per cent last month, but manufacturers almost matched the post-recession record output rate seen over last year. A total of 128,620 cars were made in January, with 80.4 per cent of those exported.