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UK auto sector ‘renaissance’ driven by low carbon focus

The UK automotive sector has been revitalised by consistently applied policy centred on cutting vehicle carbon emissions, according to a new report carried out for the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) by E4tech and the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff Business School.
 
UK investments in the low carbon automotive sector have amounted to about £40bn since 2003, a figure which matches increases in the turnover of the sector, and this has been accompanied by a 10% increase in UK exports from the sector over the last 10 years, says the report.
 
The link between consistently applied policy and a ‘win-win’ in terms of investment and emissions performance was validated by the survey, which involved over 120 senior industry and stakeholder respondents, says the LowCVP.
 
In the early 2000s, the UK car industry was in a state of decline. Factory closures were commonplace, innovation was minimal, and the supply chain had become hollowed out. Environmental regulations were seen as a threat in some quarters. This started to change with the establishment of a more active, collaborative industrial policy driven by the need to cut carbon emissions from the sector.
 
The LowCVP Managing Director, Andy Eastlake said: ‘Experience over the last ten years shows that a consistent policy approach based on collaboration between all stakeholders can deliver dividends. This represents the first strides on the road to meeting the environmental imperative of decarbonising road transport by 2050. There are, however, no grounds for complacency and the job is far from done. We urgently need to repeat the success seen in our passenger car and bus sectors, in all aspects of road transport such as the truck and commercial vehicle industries and of course the supply of low carbon fuels and energy to power all forms of transport.’ 

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