September’s commercial vehicle manufacturing update from the SMMT was short but not sweet. Production fell by 31.1% compared to the same period last year, leaving CV manufacturing output down by 25.2% on the year to date:
| CV manufacturing | Sep-13 | Sep-14 | % Change | YTD-13 | YTD-14 | % Change |
| Total | 6,997 | 4,818 | -31.1% | 67,887 | 50,746 | -25.2% |
| Home | 3,817 | 2,522 | -33.9% | 31,600 | 24,474 | -22.6% |
| Export | 3,180 | 2,296 | -27.8% | 36,287 | 26,272 | -27.6% |
| % export | 45.4% | 47.7% | 53.5% | 51.8% |
Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT)
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, stuck to well-worn script, blaming the impact of plant restructuring over the last year and the introduction of new models:
“UK commercial vehicle production remained negative in September, while key manufacturing facilities adjusted to new models,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive. “We expect monthly output to level off in the coming months, with the restructuring of operations last year now only affecting the year-to-date figures.”
If the last of last year’s restructuring has now fallen out of the figures, then that’s good news. In theory, monthly production should now be broadly flat — it will be interesting to see whether this actually happens, and whether the remaining manufacturers manage to generate any growth.
It is important to stress that the scale of the reduction in UK CV manufacturing over the last few years is huge, as these SMMT graphs show:
CV output rolling year & YTD totals (courtesy of SMMT)
Not a pretty picture, I’m afraid.