RoryStewart

AT LAST!!  After my recent gloomy blogging, there is finally some good news to report on!!

UK Car manufacturing reached a 16 month high in February, with a fantastic increase of over 15% on production levels in January 2010. Admittedly, over 30% of this volume came solely from Japanese superpower Nissan, who produced a staggering 44,951 cars in their Sunderland factory.The ever-so-popular Juke and Qashqai models formed much of this output to the incredible demand for the vehicles on our roads.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reported that there was also a 5% increase in UK engine manufacturing in 2010, with over 227,000 units produced.

In terms of European automotive manufacturing, the UK finished a strong 4th place behind traditional industry powerhouses Germany, France and Spain, which is a more positive result than that of 2009 with a 5.8% growth.

Industry workers, and the Government, will be hoping that such strong results continue as UK car production has traditionally driven manufacturing growth previously, and we all need a boost from the seemingly-continual negative reports emanating from journalists. The SMMT has forecast a further 9% increase in production levels for 2012, so here’s hoping that continues!