March 30 (Reuters) - British car production rose 13.1%
in February in its first monthly increase in three, helped by an
easing of supply-chain snags and robust output in both domestic
and overseas markets.
Britain's car output rose by 8,050 units to 69,707 units
cars last month, with exports rising 11.5% and domestic output
jumping 20.3%, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
(SMMT) said in a statement on Thursday.
SMMT said about 81.2% of the total produced cars were
exported, mainly to the European Union, and in smaller volumes
to countries including Japan, Australia and Turkey, offsetting
declines to the U.S. and China.
The global auto industry has been grappling with a
pandemic-induced shortage of key components for the last two
years, particularly semiconductor chips. Supply chain
disruptions in China due to strict months-long lockdowns also
weighed on the sector.
Production of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric
vehicles continued to rise, with combined volumes surging by
72.2% to 27,392 units in February, the data showed.
Earlier this month, SMMT had said Britain needed to urgently
respond to large-scale U.S. and EU initiatives to support
industry, or it would risk falling behind in the race to build
electric vehicles (EVs).
The U.S. last year announced $369 billion in subsidies to
support clean technologies and EVs under the Inflation Reduction
Act (IRA). That was followed up by the Green Deal Industrial
Plan proposed by the EU last month on concerns that the U.S. law
could put companies based in Europe at a disadvantage.
(Reporting by Sinchita Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi
Aich)
