UK car production hits lowest level in 13 years: Report

ANKARA

UK car production this March fell to its lowest level in 13 years, according to a new report by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Car manufacturing in March fell to 76,900 units, the lowest level since March 2009 when the world economy was in the grip of the global financial crisis.

The March figure is a steep 33.4% decline from the same month of the previous year, when 115,498 cars where manufactured in the UK, according to the trade association of the UK motor industry report released Thursday.

The UK produced 207,347 new cars during the first quarter of this year, down almost 100,000, or 32.4%, from 306,558 in the first quarter of last year, when the coronavirus pandemic was still in full effect.

"Production volumes remain constricted with the ongoing global semiconductor shortage, the Ukraine crisis exacerbating parts supply challenges and manufacturers facing an increasingly challenging economic environment with rising energy costs and other inflationary factors," the report said.