The UK’s automotive industry is facing serious structural decline as production numbers fall to a 72-year low. A mere 417,000 cars and vans have been built in the UK during the first half of 2025 – the lowest figures the six-month period has seen since 1953. In 2016 alone, the UK produced 1.82 million vehicles. The full forecast for 2025 is 755,000, which is lower than the amount made during the Covid-19 pandemic. Experts cite Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and international competition as key disruptors behind the sharp decline. They say issues of uncertainty and complicated future visibility caused by the UK’s European exit were worsened when the pandemic rolled in to reveal steep economic production costs here. When barriers arose, car manufacturers here had no problem finding a replacement for their UK production, with many already owning factories in Europe and further abroad. The sector contributes £22 billion annually and employed nearly 200,000 people in 2023. More than one-thousand workers were affected when Vauxhall’s Luton factory produced its last vehicle in March of this year. The closure put an end to 120-years of car manufacturing for the business’ plant. It followed the 2021 closure of Honda in Swindon, and Bridgend’s Ford in 2020. The Government has expressed its desire to increase the number of cars and commercial vehicles built annually, to 1.3 million by 2035. To find out more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/art…