Currently reading: UK production hits 73-year low after tariff battle and cyber attack

Last year was the worst for vehicle production since 1952 and the worst for car production since 1956

Vehicle production in the UK fell to its lowest level in 73 years in 2025, a turbulent 12 months that included a tariff battle and the biggest cyber attack the industry has ever experienced.

Last year, 764,715 vehicles rolled off production lines in the UK, which was 150,000 fewer than in 2024 and even below the number of cars made during the Covid pandemic years of 2020 (920,000) and 2021 (859,000). Of that total, 717,371 were cars, down 60,000 year on year.

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Thekrankis 29 January 2026

Sky high energy costs and expensive employee costs are crippling UK manufacturing.

Thank you Reeves and Milliband...

scotty5 29 January 2026

Perhaps I'm overlooking something obvious, but could another reason not be that JLR have stopped building cars altogether? Even if their forey into luxury EV's is a sales success (who'd bet on it?), would future Jaguar sales contribute anything to UK car production figures?    

As hated as it was, cars like the X-type were attracting Mondeo-man, but now they're going after a tiny market, arguably a market that doesn't exist. Does anyone believe Jaguar will ever produce as many cars as they once did?