British plants built 2,717 vans, trucks, buses, coaches and taxis during the month, 1% more than in June 2025, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. The uptick came entirely from overseas demand: export production rose 54.3% year on year to 1,710 units, while output for the UK market fell 36.3% to just 1,007 vehicles.
As a result, almost two-thirds of the commercial vehicles built in Britain during June were destined for export, compared with little more than two-fifths a year earlier. The percentage rise is striking, but the volumes remain small — 602 additional export vehicles compared with a June 2025 that was itself a particularly weak month for exports.
UK CV manufacturing, June 2026. Graphic: SMMT.
A much steeper half-year decline
That modest monthly increase sits against a much darker half-year picture. Just 14,223 commercial vehicles were built between January and June, down 54.7% from 31,422 a year earlier. UK-bound production bore the brunt of the decline, falling 64.5% to 5,901 vehicles from 16,612. Export output also fell heavily, but by a smaller 43.8%, to 8,322 units. Exports consequently made up 58.5% of commercial vehicle production in the first half, up from 47.1% a year earlier — a shift driven less by export strength than by how much further the domestic market has collapsed.
The rolling annual total helps explain why a single strong month can coexist with such a steep year-to-date fall. Output over the twelve months to June has dropped to 30,145 vehicles, of which exports account for 15,266 — a sharp retreat from the sector’s 2024 peak, when annual output exceeded 120,000 vehicles. Current production is being measured against a period in early 2025 when the sector was still operating at a much higher level, flattering June’s year-on-year comparison even as the underlying trend remains one of contraction.
Rolling annual UK commercial vehicle output, 2018–2026. Chart: SMMT.
Commercial vehicles remain the weakest part of UK vehicle manufacturing. Across the wider industry, factories produced 385,979 cars and commercial vehicles in the first half, down 7.5% year on year — a far shallower decline than the 54.7% drop in commercial vehicles alone, with car production down just 3.6%. The broader sector also showed firmer signs of stabilising in the second quarter, when combined output fell by only 128 units (0.1%) and exports rose 3.9%.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said global market weakness, trade pressures and uncompetitive costs continue to weigh on the sector, but argued the decline is not inevitable, calling for urgent action on energy costs, market regulation and trading arrangements with the UK’s international partners.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive.
