Britain’s carmaking industry is increasingly under threat

The performance of Britain’s car industry over the years has varied as much as the vehicles it has produced. In the 1950s Britain churned out more cars than anywhere except America; by the 1970s the industry was close to collapse. Six years ago it was purring like a Rolls-Royce: 1.7m cars rolled off production lines in 2016. Since then covid, Brexit and the rapid shift to battery power have made it look more like a Morris Marina. The country fell from 13th in the carmaking league table in 2016 to 18th five years later. Only 775,014 cars emerged from British factories in 2022, the worst year since 1956 (see chart).