UK CV Production: 1969-2011

The UK car industry suffered as did much UK industry in latter decades of the 20th century. The car making sector rallied thanks to overseas investment, and other areas such as car design got a reprieve. The effect on the economy was most beneficial, from taxes generated to the trickle down effect to suppliers and ultimately all businesses.

However, CV (commercial vehicle) manufacturing wasn't so fortunate. Van production has fallen away badly, and many truck brands have gone - some bought out by foreign companies and closed. So how did CV production fare in the time frame from 1969 to today? The list below shows:

Make	1969			Make	1979			Make	1989
BLMC	185,400			Ford	167,200			Ford	144,000
Ford	137,000			BLMC	124,700			GM	67,200
GM	102,500			GM	87,700			Rover	44,800
Chrysler	31,900			Ren (Chr)	17,600			Ley-DAF	38,300
								Iveco	14,900
Others	8,900			Others	9,200			Others	17,400
Total	465,700			Total	408,400			Total	326,600
Make	1999			Make	2011
Ford	118,300			GM-Ren	73,100
Rover	24,200			Ford	28,200
LDV	13,700			Ley-DAF	14,600
GM	13,300
Ley-DAF	8,100
Others	8,300			Others	5,400
Total	185,900			Total	121,300

With Ford quitting its van production, it will be down to two makers of any consequence. Ownership of many companies has changed so I have tried to keep it as simple as possible. The point is the slide of volume . With GM never guaranteeing anything beyond the current model, and any future investment of note impossible to see this is as good as it will get. I guess the positive note is the car industry could have gone the same way but didn't.

Bedford truck picture source:  click here
Ford Transit picture source:  click here
Leyland-DAF picture source:  click here
GM Vivaro picture source:  click here

Turkish Car Production: 1970-2011

Car production in Turkey has been rising steadily. No doubt it is cost effective to make cars there, and yet still close to the European market. Ford made small numbers of cars before giving up to concentrate on commercial vehicle, of which it is by far the biggest in the country. GM I believe made the Vectra in Izmir but finished that in 2001. To more than make up for those departures, three Asian car makers opened plants. The two mainstays Renault and Fiat continue to be the main manufacturers.

Below production is shown in five year periods, but the last one only three years. The last period is down even allowing for the difference in length of time, but the economic downturn has caused that. Overall you would have to say car manufacturing in Turkey is doing quite well.

Yr	Total	Renault	Fiat	Toyota	Hyund	Honda	Ford	GM
70-74	153,100	47,000	79,200	-	-	-	26,900	-
75-79	289,400	144,200	119,400	-	-	-	25,800	-
80-84	185,400	93,500	90,100	-	-	-	1,800	-
85-89	488,700	206,200	246,500	-	-	-	36,000	-
90-94	1,189,100	470,600	661,100	-	-	-	21,700	35,700
95-99	1,145,900	444,500	483,200	92,600	37,400	14,900	34,800	38,500
00-04	1,418,300	666,800	359,500	261,700	74,300	46,900	-	9,100
05-09	2,766,700	1,236,200	425,700	695,500	287,700	121,600	-	-
10-12	1,216,100	638,100	203,300	174,900	167,200	32,600	-	-
Total	8,852,700	3,947,100	2,668,000	1,224,700	566,600	216,000	147,000	83,300

UK Car Production By Make: 1966-1981

These were the golden years of UK car making. BL had absorbed virtually all British brands by 1968 and looked very strong. Ford models were popular, although GM Vauxhall looked average. Chrysler started this period as the Rootes Group, and ended up Peugeot. Record production volume was achieved in 1972.

But cracks were appearing. From '73, a steady decline ensued, and by the beginning of the 80's, it was bleak. BL in particular was only a shadow of what it was less than a decade earlier. UK car making was at risk and could have gone altogether. That didn't happen but could have so easily.

Yr	Total	BLMC	Ford	Chrys	GM Vx	Leyland	Other
66	1,603,700	627,300	466,200	171,900	172,800	160,900	4,600
67	1,552,000	561,200	440,700	181,200	196,900	165,500	6,500
68	1,815,900	818,300	553,700	189,100	244,800	See BL	10,000
69	1,717,100	830,900	531,600	173,900	171,700	-	9,000
70	1,641,000	787,700	448,400	217,000	178,100	-	9,800
71	1,741,900	886,700	366,600	281,600	199,100	-	7,900
72	1,921,300	916,200	546,700	263,900	184,000	-	10,500
73	1,747,300	875,800	453,400	265,400	138,400	-	14,300
74	1,534,100	738,500	383,700	261,800	136,900	-	13,200
75	1,267,700	605,100	329,600	226,600	98,600	-	7,800
76	1,333,400	687,900	383,200	144,600	109,100	-	8,600
77	1,327,800	651,100	406,600	169,500	93,200	-	7,400
78	1,222,900	611,800	324,400	196,400	84,000	-	6,300
79	1,070,500	503,800	398,700	103,000	58,800	-	6,200
80	923,700	395,800	342,800	125,300	55,000	-	4,800
81	954,700	413,400	342,200	117,400	69,900	-	11,800
Tot	23,375,000	10,911,500	6,718,500	3,088,600	2,191,300	326,400	126,900
Avg	1,460,900	682,000	419,900	193,000	137,000	163,200	13,150

UK Car Production By Make: 1982-1996

The early eighties saw the UK car making industry at it's lowest in thirty years; the time of rebuilding after the war. Now it was on another rebuilding, it's battered image of poor quality, industrial unrest and appallingly complacent management. In this period BLMC became Rover Group, GM got its act together, Peugeot shifted from Chrysler and Rootes product to its own, and the Japanese companies arrived. Land Rover is low as it does not include commercial sales.

Overall, the 1982-1996 went from a sorry state to one with some optimism. It wasn't as good as it was in the seventies and never will be, but better than it could have been. The car industry could have gone the way of ship building, but clawed its way back to some respectability.

The lists below start with the biggest producer in 1996 and go down to the smallest.

Yr	Total	Rover	Ford	GM Vx	Nissan
82	887,782	369,800	306,600	112,700	-
83	1,044,683	433,200	318,700	126,500	-
84	908,184	371,400	273,800	117,100	-
85	1,048,085	450,900	317,700	153,600	-
86	1,019,086	390,000	346,300	161,900	-
87	1,142,787	450,700	386,700	183,900	-
88	1,226,888	450,100	375,500	176,500	56,700
89	1,299,189	434,800	382,600	208,300	77,000
90	1,295,690	417,400	329,600	256,300	76,400
91	1,236,991	360,000	339,300	259,000	124,700
92	1,291,993	339,100	302,100	319,100	179,000
93	1,375,593	356,300	271,800	273,900	246,300
94	1,466,894	390,900	269,100	289,900	204,900
95	1,532,195	374,400	273,900	262,200	215,300
96	1,686,196	376,300	328,000	297,700	231,600
Tot	18,460,901	5,965,300	4,821,700	3,198,600	1,411,900
Avg	1,230,727	397,687	321,447	213,240	176,488

Yr	Toyota	Honda	L Rover	Peugeot	Jaguar	Other
82	-	-	13,300	56,200	22,000	7,100
83	-	-	12,200	120,500	28,000	5,500
84	-	-	11,900	95,100	33,300	5,500
85	-	-	14,200	67,100	38,400	6,100
86	-	-	14,200	58,400	41,400	6,800
87	-	-	20,800	45,500	48,000	7,100
88	-	-	24,000	82,300	51,900	9,800
89	-	-	31,800	107,200	48,100	9,300
90	-	-	47,300	116,500	41,900	10,200
91	-	-	35,700	88,000	23,000	7,200
92	-	1	39,700	85,800	20,600	6,500
93	37,300	32,100	50,500	72,900	29,600	4,800
94	85,500	42,800	71,800	74,400	31,400	6,100
95	88,400	91,100	99,500	78,400	41,000	7,900
96	117,000	105,800	96,900	85,100	38,600	9,100
Tot	328,200	271,801	583,800	1,233,400	537,200	109,000
Avg	93,771	90,600	38,920	82,227	35,813	7,267

Ford UK Production By Model: 1979-2002

Ford started assembling cars in the UK in 1911, and came to an end in 2002. Well 2001 but a few were made the following year. I would like to see manufacturers publishing data about sales and manufacturing for years gone by, but you have to find it yourself. So here we have British Ford production from 1979.

In the statistics below, the Orion figures are included with the Escort as they were after all the same car, one a saloon (sedan) and the other a Hatchback. The Fiesta commenced production in 1979, so the data represents total production in the UK.

Yr	Total	Fiesta	Escort	Sierra	Cortina
79	398,700	13,800	185,600	-	199,300
80	342,800	33,300	125,900	-	183,600
81	342,200	51,800	150,200	-	140,200
82	306,600	42,000	137,900	39,900	86,800
83	318,700	58,400	132,400	127,900	-
84	273,800	69,400	121,400	83,000	-
85	317,700	88,300	148,900	80,500	-
86	346,300	109,900	143,200	93,200	-
87	386,700	108,100	185,400	93,200	-
88	375,500	93,800	180,600	101,100	-
89	382,600	109,600	188,800	84,200	-
90	329,600	186,900	117,600	25,100	-
91	339,300	212,100	127,200	-	-
92	302,100	153,500	148,600	-	-
93	271,800	121,300	150,500	-	-
94	269,100	135,500	133,600	-	-
95	273,900	137,200	136,700	-	-
96	303,500	181,900	121,600	-	-
97	289,500	192,200	97,300	-	-
98	293,400	194,000	99,400	-	-
99	251,200	158,400	92,800	-	-
00	153,100	122,800	30,300	-	-
01	69,800	69,800	-	-	-
02	12,900	12,900	-	-	-
Tot	6,950,800	2,656,900	2,955,900	728,100	609,900
Avg	302,200	115,500	140,800	91,000	152,500

Production numbers from 1968- 1978 can be found by clicking here.

US Light Truck Production By Make: 1993-2011

The once 'Big Three' dominated light truck making in the US has diversified. Sure, they still lead but so many others have joined the party, such is the popularity of such vehicles in the 'States.

113 million light trucks have left US factories over the nineteen years covered, nearly 6m per annum. Amazingly, over all that time, Ford has made 36.4 million units and GM 35.5m. Recent years have dragged the average down, but the trend is now upward.

The listing from left to right is based on 2011 production:

Yr	Total	Ford	GM	Chry	Hon	Toy	BM	Hyu	Nis	Merc	Sub	Mit	Maz	Isu
93	4620	1750	1618	933	3	114	-	-	146	-	-	-	56	77
94	5360	1945	1843	1142	36	134	-	-	190	-	-	-	70	66
95	5344	1953	1852	1144	33	124	-	-	191	-	-	-	47	68
96	5640	2205	1840	1184	29	138	-	-	191	-	-	-	53	69
97	5897	2146	2066	1265	25	175	-	-	165	18	-	-	37	62
98	4823	2197	1978	137	25	254	-	-	116	69	-	-	47	90
99	6961	2347	2393	1528	23	333	2	-	206	79	-	-	50	82
00	6865	2404	2230	1350	21	400	45	-	269	80	-	-	66	84
01	6359	2142	2056	1192	17	425	85	-	198	80	71	-	93	73
02	7097	2239	2434	1332	112	445	100	-	188	88	71	-	88	34
03	7406	2212	2535	1363	252	453	110	-	200	84	65	47	85	31
04	7475	2263	2415	1340	236	518	109	-	372	74	71	22	55	28
05	7337	2135	2160	1322	359	539	105	-	453	96	87	32	49	13
06	6578	1735	1942	1204	368	506	66	62	396	174	81	22	22	11
07	6682	1698	1866	1246	426	588	129	117	307	174	81	20	30	10
08	4776	1171	1270	811	434	430	161	84	169	153	64	9	20	3
09	3416	1075	771	397	332	340	122	107	113	91	55	4	9	1
10	4897	1303	1119	669	529	486	158	214	162	125	114	6	12	-
11	5484	1521	1161	912	474	451	276	237	176	146	115	11	4	-
Tot	113017	36441	35549	20471	3734	6853	1468	821	4208	1531	875	173	893	802
Avg	5948	1918	1871	1077	197	361	122	137	221	109	80	19	47	47

The brand figures are for all trucks, not just light ones, but seeing as I left off the big truck brands, they are almost exclusively light truck sales.