Commercial vehicle manufacturing output collapsed in August, falling by 51% as a combination of weak demand, the Ford Southampton closure and seasonal maintenance periods impacted production.

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), just 3,694 commercial vehicles were built in the UK in August, down by 51% from August 2012, when 7,608 were built:

Data courtesy of SMMT (www.smmt.co.uk)

August is traditionally the weakest month of the year, but this year has been pretty disastrous, not least because of the closure of the Ford Transit factory in Southampton. These two graphs show the full horror of the situation — the UK’s CV manufacturing industry has simply collapsed since 2009, with no prospect of any improvement:

Total CV manufacturing is less than half its peak pre-recession level, while CV exports have shrunk to almost nothing. (Graphs courtesy of SMMT)

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, says that he expects the rest of the year to be pretty bad, too:

“Focused almost entirely on the European market, UK commercial vehicle manufacturing has been impacted by ongoing uncertainly in Eurozone countries, model changes and restructuring of some domestic operations. We expect overall commercial vehicle output to remain negative through the rest of the year, but some sectors may fare better with recent increases in demand for UK-built trucks and buses.”

Given that total CV manufacturing output is down by 16.6% for the year to date, compared to the same period last year, any improvement would be worthwhile, but with unemployment still rife in Southern Europe, and French and German van operators traditionally loyal to home-market brands, it’s hard to see where the improvement is going to come from, unless the UK economy picks up unexpectedly quickly.