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Vehicle production down in October but hope on horizon

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December 1, 2025
3 min read

Vehicle production down in October but hope on horizon

Vehicle production in the UK fell 23.8% in October, data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has found. 59,010 vehicles left factory gates, 18,474 less than the same month last year.

Nearly half of the cars made were either battery electric, plug-in-hybrid, or hybrid, with volumes climbing up 10.4% to 27,287 units. Overall vehicle production for the UK market fell by 10.6% to 13,785 units, while output for export markets declined by 27.1% to 45,225. The US, EU, Türkiye, China, and Japan are the biggest export markets for the UK’s vehicle production. Only shipments to Türkiye and China rose.

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The Chancellor announced multiple “welcome competitiveness-boosting measures” as the SMMT described them, in the latest budget. This includes a further £1.5 billion in automotive transformation funding, and the deferral of regulation to end critical employee car ownership schemes into the next parliament. This move, the industry warns, could result in annual losses of £1 billion and risk up to 5,000 jobs.

The SMMT also welcomed news of a £1.3 billion top-up to the Electric Car Grant and changes to the VED expensive car supplement, reducing the amount of EVs that would be subject to a higher tax. But it criticised a new pay-per-mile EV tax (eVED), saying it would “undermine the impact of those supportive EV measures, reducing demand for the very vehicles manufacturers are compelled to sell.”

“This, in turn, will further reduce the UK’s investment appeal just as it strives to attract new manufacturing operations given the Industrial Strategy’s ambition to boost vehicle output to 1.3 million units by 2035,” it said.

The latest independent vehicle production outlook, it added, expects growth to return in 2026 to a total of 828,000 cars and vans manufactured next year. This is led largely by new electric models coming into production. The SMMT says it has the potential to reach around 1 million units by the end of the decade “if the right conditions are in place.”

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