The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has predicted that up to 15,000 new car industry jobs will be added in the UK in the next few years. Speaking to industry website just-auto.com, the SMMT said that car production is up 10% in the UK so far this year – something very few countries could claim at the moment. Some £5.6 billion has been committed to the UK in investments: virtually all manufacturers in the UK have said they will increase UK production, with especially big increases coming from Jaguar Land Rover, Vauxhall and Nissan.

In a separate announcement, BMW said today that it has just built its 3 millionth UK engine at Hams Hall in Birmingham. The engine, a 1.6 litre petrol, will go into a Mini destined for India, which is a nice symbol of Britain’s growing automotive exports. Engines from Birmingham also go into BMW models as well as Minis – some BMW 3 Series models are powered by UK-built engines. In fact the UK is a global centre of engine production: Britain now manufactures twice as many engines as it does cars.

The UK now runs a surplus in terms of the value of cars exported against the value of cars imported, for the first time since 1976.