The SMMT has announced that UK car production in December was up 58.5% on the same month of 2008 when volumes were exceptionally depressed.
December 2009 car production reached 85,316 units. A year earlier manufacturers were winding down production as demand slumped due to the impact of the international financial crisis.
For 2009 as a whole car production was down 30.9% on 2008 at 999,460 units.
UK car production this year was hit by lengthy furloughs and cuts to production by a number of manufacturers in the first half of the year as they sought to reduce stocks as demand slumped.
Looking on the bright side, the SMMT said that the December year-on-year rise to production - albeit off a very low base - was biggest rise since May 1976.
"The significant rise in December vehicle production is welcome news and signals some greater stability across global automotive markets," said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt.
"We expect the year ahead to be extremely challenging, but the return of economic growth and a competitive exchange rate will help UK producers. Car and commercial vehicle production remain well below pre-recession levels and it is essential that there continues to be a focus on creating more and better priced finance for businesses and consumers."
UK commercial vehicle production in December was 7.271 units, 15.6% up on the same month in 2008. For 2009 as a whole, commercial vehicle production reached 90,679 units, 55.3% below 2008's tally.
The SMMT also announced that UK automotive engine manufacturers produced 2,053,456 engines in 2009.
Some 74.3% of all engines produced in the UK were exported.
Petrol engines accounted for 63% of total production versus 37% diesel.
"Despite the severe impact that the recession has had on the country's economy, there were twice as many engines built in the UK than new cars," said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt.
"Most importantly, this underlines the significant role the UK plays in global automotive manufacturing and demonstrates the sheer scale of the motor industry in the UK."
UK: Vehicle output up 58.5% in Dec; down 31% for year
UK: UK car market to decline by 11% in 2010 – SMMT
The UK car market is forecast to decline by 11% in 2010 according to the SMMT.
The UK car market in 2009 reached almost 2m units and was boosted by a scrappage incentive which helped to kick-start the market.
Speaking at an online webinar, SMMT chief economist Robert Baker said that without the scrappage incentive the UK car market would have gone as low as 1.6m/1.7m units in 2009.
The forecast for 2010 is for the market to drop 11% to 1.777m units before rising to 1.859m units in 2011
"The UK economy is still adjusting to the economic situation," he said.
Baker pointed out that low interest rates, unexpectedly low unemployment and stable asset prices were all positives on the general economy. However, he maintained that there would be some post-scrappage 'payback' in 2010 and that some buyers would be holding off ahead of a general election and some uncertainty on interest rates.
He also pointed to medium-term concerns over the economy.
"The volume of GDP won't be getting back to where it was before the crisis until late 2012," he said.
"And at some point there is a further adjustment ahead for governments - like the UK's - with large fiscal deficits. That could further squeeze incomes. There is pick-up to economic growth ahead, but there is a degree of uncertainty ahead about the strength of the recovery and how it will play out."
However, Baker did hold out the hope that the market will recover to pre-crisis levels eventually, though not as far as the peak of 2.7m - recorded in 2002.
"There are concerns and some uncertainties about the economic adjustment taking place and the timescale," he said. "But there is no reason, provided the economic conditions are right - that financing comes back, that replacement cycles shorten, that the product is good and regulators aren't restrictive - that the market can't return to the 2.3m/2.4m unit level."
US/GERMANY: GM and VW in pole position for BRIC markets - study
Car sales in the so-called BRIC markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China will grow from 19m units last year to 27m units in 2014, according to a study by the Boston Consulting Group with General Motors and Volkswagen in the best position to take advantage of that growth because they are already well-established there.
"Auto companies cannot succeed in these markets by offering one-size-fits-all products, processes, or approaches," said Nikolaus Lang, the study's author.
The four emerging markets will challenge automakers' strategies over the past decade to push for global vehicle platforms because each country has different needs, the study said.
Auto sales in those four countries would grow between 4m and 8m units in the next five years to reach up to 27m units in 2014, when global auto sales are projected at 78-87m, up from an estimated 62m last year.
China, which overtook the US as the world's biggest market in 2009, will account for more than 60% of the expected sales volume in the countries, the study said.
GM and VW are the biggest players in China, where sales jumped 48% last year. "They (GM and Volkswagen) really went there and established local operations," Lang said.
He added latecomers would find it more challenging than before to make a profit in the increasingly competitive market.
US: Toyota recalls 2.3m more cars as media eyes acceleration claims
Toyota Motor Sales USA (TMS) last night said it would recall about 2.3m Toyota branded vehicles to correct sticking accelerator pedals, a move separate from the current recall of around 4.2m Toyota and Lexus vehicles to reduce the risk of pedal entrapment by incorrect or out of place accessory floor mats. The announcement came just hours before ABC News aired a prime time news report about unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles followed later in the evening by a separate investigatory programme.
Toyota said 1.7m Toyota vehicles are subject to both separate recalls.
"In recent months, Toyota has investigated isolated reports of sticking accelerator pedal mechanisms in certain vehicles without the presence of floor mats," said TMS group vice president Irv Miller. "Our investigation indicates that there is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position. Consistent with our commitment to the safety of our cars and our customers, we have initiated this voluntary recall action."
This recall is confined to 2009-2010 RAV4, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Matrix, 2005-2010 Avalon, 2007-2010 Camry, 2010 Highlander, 2007-2010 Tundra and 2008-2010 Sequoia models and does not affect Lexus or Scion brand vehicles.
“The condition is rare, but can occur when the pedal mechanism becomes worn and, in certain conditions, the accelerator pedal may become harder to depress, slower to return or, in the worst case, stuck in a partially depressed position. Toyota is working quickly to prepare the correction remedy,” TMS said in a statement.
The company advised the driver of a car in which the accelerator pedal sticks in a partial open throttle position, or returns slowly to idle position, to control the vehicle with firm and steady brake application, drive it to the nearest safe location, shut off the engine and contact a Toyota dealer for help.
“Toyota will continue to investigate incidents of unwanted acceleration and take appropriate measures to address any trends that are identified,” TMS said.
Meanwhile, over 60 new cases of runaway Toyotas have been reported since the company said last year it had solved the problem with the huge recall of suspect floor mats and proposed changes to accelerator pedals, safety experts told ABC News.
In the most dramatic incident, late last month, four people died in the Dallas suburb of Southlake, Texas, after a 2008 Toyota sped off the road, through a fence and landed upside down in a pond. The car's floor mats were found in the boot of the car, where owners had been advised to put them as part of the recall.
"There's one thing that didn't cause the accident," a Southlake police spokesman told ABC News. He added that federal safety investigators had joined the investigation.
Reports of possible electronic problems or on-board computer glitches have been strongly denied by the automaker. "There is no evidence to support these theories," Toyota executive Bob Daily told ABC News.
In another case, in New Jersey, a Toyota owner was able to make it to a local dealer with his car racing out of control, even though his foot was not on the accelerator and the floor mats were not involved.
Kevin Haggerty, a salesman from Pittstown, New Jersey, said he had seen an ABCNews.com report about how to control a car experiencing unexpected acceleration - by shifting into neutral.
With his brakes smoking and the engine racing, Haggerty summoned a Toyota manager to witness what was happening with his car.
Haggerty said after consulting with Toyota corporate offices, the local dealer replaced the sensors and assembly on Haggerty's accelerator and throttle.
"We now have that evidence right in front of Toyota, they're witnessing it and they can't walk away from it," safety analyst Sean Kane told ABC News.
"The Haggerty case is a real breakthrough case," he added. "It's a real problem and it points to electronic defects in the vehicle."
According to ABC News, dozens of other Toyota owners had made similar claims about electronic problems with their cars, unconnected to floor mats, over the last few years, but they were routinely dismissed by Toyota as unfounded.
ANALYSIS: Opel Antwerp axe no surprise
As General Motors formulates a business plan for its Opel/Vauxhall operations in Europe, the announcement that its Antwerp plant is to be closed comes as no surprise to many in the industry.
Even before the onset of the current demand and capacity crisis that has hit Europe's car manufacturing industry generally, Opel's Antwerp plant appeared to have lost favour inside GM and had seen capacity reductions that made its long-term future questionable.
Antwerp makes the last generation Astra model which is now being replaced, but it lost out in the internal GM Europe competition to be awarded the latest Astra model, which is now going on sale across the region.
Analysts at JD Power Automotive Forecasting point out that Antwerp made fewer than 90,000 cars in 2009 but has the capacity to make 240,000 cars a year.
"A plant capacity utilisation rate of 36% is one of the worst rates in Europe," says JD Power analyst Arthur Maher.
The plant once had an annual build capacity of 380,000 units, but was cut back under GM Europe's 'Project Olympia' cost reduction programme to 240,000. There were plans for a further capacity reduction to 150,000 units a year.
Maher says the plant looked vulnerable pre-crisis.
"With the trimming of the plant's capacity, long-term viability was clearly emerging as an issue. The plant is still making the outgoing Astra because that is still selling in some European markets, but that's a phase-out situation and new product for Antwerp was apparently difficult to find."
He estimates that taking Antwerp out of Opel/Vauxhall's production network will improve its overall rate of capacity utilisation by around five percentage points.
"This is an important step for GM in Europe," he says.
"This measure, combined with a projected recovery in production volume could lift Opel/Vauxhall capacity utilisation towards 70% in 2011, compared with an estimated 53% for GM Europe in 2009."
The big question now: where else might the axe fall?
