Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the trends in new car sales over the last six months and the impact on the UK car manufacturing sector; and if he will make a statement.

The UK automotive market showed a positive start to 2022 with new car registrations in Jan-Feb 2022 above 2021 levels, when lockdown restrictions meant showrooms were shut. However, registrations are still below pre-pandemic levels with semiconductor chip shortages continuing to constrain supply globally.

As part of the Government’s Net Zero Strategy, we are allocating a further £350 million for the Automotive Transformation Fund, as part of our £1 billion commitment to build an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain including gigafactories.