LONDON (Reuters) - British car production fell 6.7 percent on the year in October, the smallest monthly drop this year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said on Friday.
For the year to date, car production was 38.1 percent lower than a year ago.
While car sales have been boosted by the government's scrappage incentive scheme, production has remained weak as many Britons have chosen to trade in their old vehicles for foreign made models.
The production of commercial vehicles has been particularly hard hit by the economic downturn, falling 60 percent in the year-to-date.
Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive, said he was cheered by signs the world economy was pulling out of recession but said next year would remain challenging.
"The scrappage scheme and early signs of recovery in global markets offer some encouragement to UK vehicle producers, but 2010 is expected to be another difficult year for the industry."
(c) Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Last updated: 20 November 2009, 09:56
The links provided allow you to bookmark this page into your favourite social media website. For users with JavaScript disabled copy and paste the URL from the address bar into your chosen social bookmarking site.