UK car industry warns of Brexit hit

Britain’s car industry has warned that lack of access to the single market could put jobs and growth at risk, after revealing figures that showed a record year.

Turnover rose 7.3 per cent to £71bn in 2015, while the number of cars rolling off UK production lines climbed to 1.7m.

Britain is on track to make more cars by 2020 than at any time in its history.

But the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the industry body, warned that the EU was a crucial trade partner for carmakers, which export about 80 per cent of the vehicles made in Britain.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said: “This success has been due to unrestricted access to the single market, input to EU legislation to safeguard the interests of UK Automotive, and the ability to recruit talent from abroad.

“Our growth depends on certainty and continued open and reciprocal access to the 100-plus markets with which the UK automotive industry so successfully trades.”

Spending on R&D hit £2.5 billion last year, accounting for 12 per cent of all UK research spending.

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016