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British car production hits six-year high: SMMT
Last Updated: 2014-01-23 22:30 | Xinhua
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British car production increased 3.1 percent in 2013 to exceed 1.5 million units, reaching the highest level since 2007, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and traders (SMMT) on Thursday.

According to SMMT, Britain manufactured 1.509 million cars last year, and is expected to set all time high in 2017, surpassing 2 million units.

Britain's current record year for car production is in 1972 at 1.92 million.

The robust growth of car production is boosted by the rising domestic both at home and abroad.

The SMMT figures showed that of the total, 308,367 cars were sold on domestic market in 2013, surging 21.8 percent, while 1.2 million were exported to other countries, down 0.9 percent and accounting for nearly 80 percent of the total output of the country.

The car output in December last year was 85,566 units, down 15.9 percent year on year, of which 15,075 units were for home market, and 70,491 units for exports.

The trade organization predicted that Britain will become the third largest carmaker in Europe, after Germany and Spain.

Speaking of its overseas market, the SMMT said: "China's share of exports has grown rapidly over recent years, and the country now looks set to become the largest non-EU market for UK-built cars."

Business Secretary Vince Cable said, "Today's figures are another sign that the British car industry is going from strength to strength - with one vehicle rolling off a production line somewhere in the UK every 20 seconds.

"Our success lies in the appetite from countries around the world for British cars. Around 80 percent of the 1.5 million cars we produced last year were exported - a testament to the diverse, high quality of British manufacturing," Cable said.

However, Britain's production of commercial vehicles was not as good as car, which posted a fall of 21.7 percent in 2013 to 87,671 units, as the SMMT claimed that weak demand in Europe produced difficult environment for commercial vehicle makers.

It predicted the production of commercial vehicles will remain subdued into 2014.

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