Britain made more new cars in 2015 than in any year since 2005.
The best performance in a decade has also seen Jaguar Land Rover overtake Nissan as Britain?s biggest car manufacturer.
According to new figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders, 1,587,677 new vehicles were produced in 2015, 3.9 per cent up on the previous year.
By far the majority, 77.3 per cent, were exported, up 2.7 per cent on 2014 and the largest amount since records began. While China?s economic problems saw demand slump by 37.5 per cent, and exports to Russia slid 69.4 per cent, a climb of 26.5 per cent resulted in the United States replacing China as Britain?s largest individual car export market.
The majority of exports, however, were to the European Union, up 11.3 per cent and accounting for 57.5 per cent of all new cars leaving the UK. Home demand was up too, rising 8.1 per cent ? one in seven of all new cars registered in the UK in 2015 was built in Britain, the totals fuelled by a raft of new models, some of which are only just reaching showrooms. Eight new cars started production in 2015, the Bentley Bentayga, Infiniti Q30, Jaguar XE, Jaguar XF, Land Rover Discovery Sport, MINI Clubman, McLaren 570S and Vauxhall Astra.
According to the SMMT the UK motor manufacturing industry is a vital part of the UK economy accounting for more than £69.5 billion turnover and £15.5 billion value added, while employing 160,000 people directly and more than 799,000 across the wider industry.
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