THE first nine months of 2014 have been the best for car manufacturing for six years, despite a slight dip in production last month, figures have said.
A total of 1,132,017 cars were made in the UK between January and September.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said the figure was a 0.6 per cent rise on the same period last year.
It added it was the best three-quarters figure since 2008, which came in spite of a 2.8 per cent drop last month compared with September last year.
Production for export fell 8.1 per cent last month, but home market production was up 17.7 per cent.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: "It is testament to the strength of the automotive industry that it continues to break records, yielding the best year-to-date performance for six years and comfortably surpassing one million units.
"The continued investment by the sector into new models means the September figures took a slight dip as some plants underwent re-tooling, but it is these same new models which will help increase production volumes in the future."
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