Vehicle construction
The UK plays an important role as a sales market for Ger-
man companies in the vehicle construction sector; in 2015, vehi-
cles and vehicle parts worth EUR 29. 1bn were exported from
Germany. This represented 12. 8% of sector exports.
The British market is thus the most important export destination after
the USA ( 15. 0%) , with vehicles accounting for the lion’ s share
of around 85% of the value of goods. There is much less de-
mand for products in the supplier industry. This is surprising
since the country demonstrates a real focus on production here.
In terms of the number of vehicles manufactured, the UK ( 1. 7m)
was the fourth largest production location in the EU after
Germany ( 6m) , Spain (2. 7m) and France ( 1. 9m) . This could be
attributable to the comparatively large number of companies in
the sector. Although sales of companies in Germany are more
than five times as high, the statistics show a roughly similar
number of companies (figures from 2013) . This indicates rela-
tively strong competition in the supplier industry, which is fo-
cusing increasingly on the home market.
The strong presence
of Asian vehicle producers – who are also gaining access to
other supplier networks – could also be a major factor here
EU Forecast
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