London
British car production plunged by 95.4 percent in May amid the coronavirus pandemic compared with the same month last year, marking the worst May since 1946, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. ata showed that only 5,314 vehicles rolled off production lines across Britain as car plants either closed or restarted at a reduced capacity due to COVID-19, with 4,260 units being exported and just 1,054 for domestic buyers. While some two thirds of the UK’s automotive plants started getting back to business during the month, capacity was severely held back by social distancing requirements and reduced demand, with key global markets only just beginning to reopen and the UK remaining in lockdown,” said the SMMT. Meanwhile, in the first five months this year, British cars manufactured reached 324,763 units, representing a decline of 41.7 percent from the same period in 2019, with “the full year outlook now expected to be fewer than one million units,” the business organization said.—Xinhua
