The year began with the UK’s gradual lifting of Covid-19 restrictions and possibility of a post-pandemic recovery.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine derailed this potential, resulting in governments imposing a variety of sanctions on Russia that affected the automotive sector. In response to the crisis, SMMT launched a Ukraine hub on our website, providing regular updates on UK and international response intelligence, including the latest sanctions, and assessments on the impact on automotive businesses and their workforces, while helping government understand the effects of the sanctions and other impacts on the sector.

The ongoing effect of the war in Ukraine brought the significant new challenge of a global energy crisis.

Already experiencing higher energy costs than most of its competitors, the UK automotive sector was hit by rapidly spiralling gas and electricity costs. We lobbied for immediate business energy support, with two major media interventions resulting in significant influential coverage, and also gained recognition of battery manufacturing as an Energy Intensive Industry. A new SMMT Energy Task Force is now providing support across our membership for the duration of the crisis.

Semiconductor supply disruption, despite some signs of improvement, is expected to last into 2023. Other supply chain and logistics challenges persisted for much of the year hampering recovery and adding further financial burdens on suppliers of all sizes. With these ongoing challenges, we have continued to work closely with government, and provided support to the supply chain though our Safe Harbour scheme.

On behalf of the industry, we continue to speak out in the media, promoting the sector and, where necessary, defending it from unwarranted criticism. We have championed its perseverance in delivering vehicles to customers during incredibly challenging circumstances and robustly defended it against critics questioning its commitment to meeting zero emission targets and, occasionally, its relevance and viability.