Exports continued to drive British car manufacturing in March, as demand rose 10.6% in the month to a 17 years high, according to the SMMT.
Altogether, 170,691 cars were built in the UK in March, up 7.3%, with overseas buyers ordering more than 76% of output.
Overseas demand also helped push overall production to a 17-year high in Q1, to 471,695 units – an increase of 7.6%. This helped offset a decline at home, with demand down -4.3% in the quarter.
UK engine manufacturing output rose a fifth in March (19.5%) to 271,359 units.
Home market delivers 21.4% increase in production for the month – exceeding overseas growth in a reversal of the year-to-date trend while March export demand grows 18.0%, with 153,206 units shipped overseas.
This resulted in record quarter Q1 above 700,000 units for first time, up 11.4% year-on-year.
A fall in home demand saw CV production dip while exports maintain their seventh month of growth.
Jaguar is the most successful improving car sales company in the world over the last year.
Sales jumped 84% to 110 countries to 151,000 cars, a compound annual growth rate of 26.6% with four in ten cars sold going to Europe, said analyst Focus2Move.