Is British car manufacturing really in decline?

Production rates might be falling, but the switch to electric cars could see a second golden age of British car-making - if we play our cards right. 

There’s a lot to celebrate about British culture.

And it’s not all tea-drinking either.

We’re the land of chicken Tikka Masala. We’re the home of '90s Britpop. And let’s not forget that modern-day must-watch, The Great British Bake Off, started right here on our shores.

But that’s not all we’re good at. We’ve made some cracking cars in our time.

Brands from Rolls Royce, to the British Motor Corporation (BMC), to Bentley, are as ubiquitously British as the sight of Big Ben on the London skyline.

And we’ve been home to the factories of some big non-British names over the years – American-owned Ford, for one, also trades as Ford of Britain, with two headquarters in the UK. 

By 1950, we were the second-largest manufacturer of cars in the world. More importantly, we definitely ranked number one as the largest car exporter globally.

It’s safe to say that seven decades ago, UK car manufacturing was enjoying a real high.

But in 2025, the British-made car is apparently in decline.

British marques like MG and Jaguar have been taken over by Chinese and Indian companies respectively. Others, like Triumph, BMC and the Rover Group, have disappeared from our streets altogether.

And last month, The Guardian reported that 2024 saw the lowest number of British-made cars hit the market since 1954. (Not counting the pandemic years, of course.)

So, you might be wondering the same question we are: what on earth happened to British motor production?

Well, buckle up – the rise and fall of British motor manufacturing is something of a bumpy ride.

The post-war high

We might have emerged victorious from the Second World War in 1945, but the immediate post-war years weren’t exactly smooth.

For anyone.

Yes, we got a new and generous welfare state. We got the glorious NHS. But we also got smacked with long-term bread rationing (today’s sourdough fanatics could never) and the nationalisation of a lot of our industries.

Economic recovery was slow.

And the British Empire? It was about to crumble. The UK – which had so long enjoyed and benefited from its global superpower status – wasn’t top dog anymore.

But in a time of worldwide economic, political and social change, the UK did manage to distinguish itself in a few key ways. And one of them was its manufacturing.

Demand for new vehicles was rising in the USA and Australia faster than their own markets could keep up.

And Europe? It wasn’t in any shape to compete after hosting the war front.

The UK might have been bombed during the war, but it hadn’t been invaded and obliterated. And the post-war nationalisation of the steel industry primed the UK car industry to take the world by storm.

Because the UK government was only giving steel – a crucial component in car construction – to businesses that were exporting up to 75% of their production.

The UK was handed a holy trifecta of the right circumstances at the right time. Cue; the UK’s car manufacturing boom, exporting cars all over the world.

Models like the Morris Minor, the Rover P4 series and the Standard Vanguard became hugely popular. Because what’s not to love about British excellence trotted out in a neat little package on wheels, for everyone, all over the globe?

They were accessible too, with cars like the Morris Minor designed to be family cars rather than super upmarket vehicles for the elite upper class.

And the creation of the iconic Mini in 1959 really cemented the popularity of British cars. At its peak, the Mini was a strong seller in pretty much every country where it was on the market, with over 1 million models being sold in the UK alone from 1959 onwards.

It was literally the car that you, your mum, and everyone else loved.

The Mini dominated the supermini market until the 1980s, outshining now-obsolete models like the Hillman Imp and the Vauxhall Chevette, which just didn’t have the same visual impact. And with demand for British cars growing, our carmakers strived to dominate the market through mergers and acquisitions of their immediate competition.

Like the British Motor Corporation which merged Austin and Morris under one unified name.

Like the Standard Motor Company, which went on to become Standard Triumph, which went on to become the British Leyland Motor Corporation.

And so many other manufacturers followed along in this pell-mell fashion. 

Because why have one or even two names stashed under your trench coat, when you can have a small fleet of them to stand on?

In the automotive world, you don’t drive your competition off the road. You buy them out and take them over. That’s what British manufacturers were doing to each other in the latter half of the 20th Century – and it worked.

Right up until it didn’t.

The downturn

From 2nd largest manufacturer in the world in 1950, to 6th place by 1974. It took less than 15 years to stall the engine on British car making.

See, that holy trifecta we mentioned? It was never going to last forever.

Europe recovered from the war. America’s production caught up with their market demand. And the British motor industry, which kept cannibalising itself in the name of growth, struggled to stay ahead of the game.

Far from a holy trifecta, there were a half-dozen issues facing the industry. And they were tackled with the same efficiency as using a flamethrower to crisp up a crème brûlée.

The UK was super slow to jump on the hatchback bandwagon, or to adopt front-wheel driving. And customers were starting to ask questions about the quality of their cars. Some British brands were earning reputations for shoddy build-work.

You might say our cars were only slightly less outdated and unreliable than British plumbing systems. 

Bit hard to sell British excellence when it’s almost in the toilet.

Maybe that’s why foreign carmakers started getting more popular. Germany’s Volkswagen, and Japanese giants Nissan and Toyota, were starting to make their marks with the car-buying public.

To survive, British carmakers either had to sell themselves off to bigger companies with even bigger pockets (we see you, Jaguar), turn to exclusively selling luxe-vehicles (hi, Bentley), or integrate with the operations of their parent companies (looking at you, Ford of Britain).

Unwieldy British companies like Leyland – which had dominated British manufacturing – became increasingly standalone players in a global market.

Or they disappeared quickly, like BMC and Triumph. We’re still not over the loss of the latter frankly.

As the British car-maker pool shrunk, makes like Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, Volvo and Fiat arrived on our roads, and they looked good doing it too.

And it turned out, they had something that British carmakers lacked: staying power.

What lies ahead? 

By the time the 2000s rolled around, the market had changed several times.

And so had the players.

British Leyland had become the Rover Group, and had finally been absorbed by BMW. Ford had sold Jaguar Land Rover to Tata Motors of India, and Aston Martin to a British-led consortium backed by investments from the Middle East.

Rolls-Royce and Bentley had also changed ownership.

But it wasn’t just British-owned companies that were vanishing faster than a kid in a candy store. British-based vehicle assembly was also under threat: Ford stopped vehicle assembly at Dagenham, Vauxhall closed its Luton plant and Jaguar its Coventry plant.

Many factories have been moved abroad, where labour may be cheaper – or because the parent companies of formerly British brands want operations closer to home.

But the UK could still turn the corner on its declining car production levels.

The electric vehicle (EV) market is in its early days, but it’s the way things are headed all over the world. And it makes for a golden opportunity for a savvy carmaker to take the wheel on going green.

The USA has had a turn with Tesla, and Chinese company BYD seems to be having a good crack at taking the lead. And they’re not alone in the EV lane, with strong contenders in Polestar, Hyundai and even Mercedes-Benz.

But there’s some strong incentives for the UK to have a go at leading EV production. We’d like to see the UK tackle the ZEV mandate with aplomb; not just to meet targets, but to exceed them, actually.

Ramping up UK-based EV production would mean more industry jobs right here in the UK.

It would mean more British-made cars on the road.

It would mean revitalising UK car production for the first time in decades, but with eyes on a greener, cleaner automotive future.

We fully believe the British car-making industry is up to the challenge. To not just survive the EV transition, but to use it to thrive.

Whether the UK government will make it achievable? Well, it remains to be seen.

British-owned vs British-made

70 years is a long time: we’d be more surprised if things had stayed the same.

And considering how badly UK industry has been dismantled and destroyed over the years, we’re pretty impressed we’re still making cars at all.

Yes, the percentage is lower today than it was in its heyday. Yes, the number of British-owned companies is increasingly small, but it’s too soon to say British car making is in permanent decline.

Because despite huge changes and loss of infrastructure, British car making is still alive and kicking.

These are the carmakers still parked on British soil.

And with the shift to EV’s coming round the corner, we’ll soon see if this list will shrink, or grow in coming years.

We’re already seeing some brand-new British names on the horizon. Forseven, anyone?