SECTOR FOCUS

f ever an industry has broken from the past, it is British automobile manufacturing. UK car makers are projected to reach an important annual production milestone of 2m vehicles a year by 2017, doubling the output in 2009. Creators of mainstream vehicles, sports cars as well as Formula 1 racers contribute £11bn annually to the economy and are delivering a positive trade balance for the first time in years.

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UK car manufacturers are on track to break through the 2m vehicles a year mark. Lawrie Holmes finds out how a remarkable turnaround has been achieved

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“The UK is effectively the production aircraft carrier for Europe”

This renaissance can be traced to the UK forging a reputation for advanced engineering across the sector in recent years. Many of the world’s volume manufacturers including Toyota, Honda, Nissan, BMW and General Motors have substantial plants in the UK to sell into mainland Europe says Phil Harrold, UK auto industry partner at PwC. “The UK is effectively the production aircraft carrier for Europe,” he says. The major catalyst for the turnaround was the decision by India’s Tata Industrial Services to invest heavily in Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), after acquiring the group from Ford in 2008. “It’s a significant investment because Tata is taking a long term view,” he suggests.

JLR, which says its export revenues have been worth almost £25bn to the UK economy over the past two years,

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