SMMT car manufacturing figures 2025: comment

"While overall UK car production fell in 2025, electrified vehicles bucked the trend with an increasing number being built. It is notable that the SMMT's optimism for a stronger 2026 is based on EVs, with a slew of new models entering production in UK factories this year. 
 
"This goes to show that, with the world moving to EVs, the future of the UK's car industry rests on it making a successful transition to building them. This has been laid out in stark detail in a report by CBI Economics. [2] It found that a rapid and successful transition to building EVs could see the car industry's contributions to the UK economy could increase by over £16bn, with 167,000 new jobs being created. Conversely, were the car industry to fail in making this transition, economic output could fall by as much as 73%, or £34.1bn, and over 400,000 jobs could be lost. 
 
"Government support is critical to achieving success, and this includes the provision of a stable and supportive regulatory environment through keeping measures like the ZEV Mandate in place. There are now over 1.8 million EVs on the UK’s roads, [3] increasingly powered by electrons generated by British wind and solar farms. Our charging infrastructure is receiving billions in private investment, while more and more EVs are beginning to roll off British production lines - from the electric Mini in Oxford, to the Nissan Leaf in Sunderland, and the new electric Jags and Land Rovers set to emerge from the West Midlands. The opportunity is there for the UK to cement its status as a frontrunner in making the shift to driving and building the electric cars of the future".