The UK's auto manufacturing industry suffered a three-month decline in May this year, with passenger car production falling by 11.9%. However, the production of electrified models has increased significantly, accounting for 38% of the total production. This suggests that automakers have begun to transition to electric vehicles in more factories. According to the Association of British Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the number of cars entering the UK market rose 9.7% to 17,754 units in May, but the overall production was only 69,652 units due to a 17.4% drop in exports.
Despite the decline in exports, British automakers produce nearly three-quarters of their cars for the global market, with 52.5% of them exported to the EU. In addition, UK automakers have begun to step up their investment in the electric vehicle industry to stay ahead of the competition. In May this year, new passenger car registrations in the UK increased by 1.7% year-on-year to 147678. Among them, the sales volume of fuel vehicles was 81,058, accounting for 54.9% of the total sales; Sales of hybrid vehicles increased by 9.6% year-on-year to 19,503 units, accounting for 13.2% of the total. The sales volume of pure electric vehicles was 26,031 units, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%, accounting for 17.6%.
According to the British Association of Motor Manufacturers, the cumulative year-on-year increase from January to May increased by 7.1% to 827,500 units. In November last year, the UK government announced that it would provide £4.5 billion in funding for manufacturing over the next decade to support the manufacturing, supply chain and development of zero-emission vehicles.