Comebacks and collapses: what on Earth is going on with UK car-makers?

After a flurry of eyebrow-raising announcements and disturbing rumours of major closures and job losses in the UK, it's time to find out what's really going on with long-dead Marcos and Jensen, as well as Lotus, Morgan, McLaren et al

- Andrew English

HOW IMPORTANT are Britain’s specialist carmakers? Very, according to the latest report from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT): The UK’s Small Volume Automotive Manufacturers: An Enduring British Success Story.

Small Vehicle Manufacturers (aka SVMs, producing fewer than 2500 a year) built only 31,000 cars in 2024, but 90% were exported and those sales were worth over £5.5bn. The SVM industry employs over 15,000 directly and 60,000 in the wider supplier base, paying wages averaging £43,000, with thriving apprenticeship schemes, and occupying a cutting-edge role developing lightweight technology, aerodynamics, and safety systems, often adopted by the wider industry.

Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, has previously called for Government help for this ‘staple of the UK’s economy’ and it certainly arrived in April in the form of an exemption from the 2030 ban on new internal-combustion-engine car sales for SVMs and Micro Vehicle Manufacturers (MVMs), which produce fewer than 1000 cars a year. SVMs will eventually adopt individual CO2 targets, though MVMs can carry on as before.

But the fate of our SVMs and MVMs isn't as clear-cut, nor quite as much in the bailiwick of Government as our PM might imagine. Some are doing nicely, some are struggling and, with a lot of sales in North America, President Trump’s tariffs, even reduced to 10%, outweigh Starmer’s Government largesse.

Yet despite this tough and uncertain market, old names are reemerging. The revival of famous marques is a well-worn story and, as any lawyer will tell you, securing the intellectual property rights to a once-famous name is complicated, expensive and contentious, often with many conflicting claimants. Nor are the Single Vehicle Approval regulations lax enough to merely tool up for a classic and sell it as a new car. Re-engineering costs, safety regulations and legislative requirements stand in the way.