The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has called on every political party to sign up to key pledges that would see a 10-fold increase to UK EV production to 750,000 units a year by 2030.

Launching “Manifesto 2030: Automotive growth for a zero emission future” at its annual International Summit in London today (Tuesday, June 27), the SMMT urged political parties to recognise the strategic importance of the sector to the UK and create the conditions for for the increase in annual battery electric vehicle (BEV) production worth £106 billion.

However, the SMMT says that this is contingent on British plants attracting the next generation of electric models and scaling up an emerging EV supply chain, a process which puts the competitiveness of the sector into focus.

As the sector consolidates its post-pandemic recovery, it faces fierce global competition as other countries offer huge cash incentives and subsidies to attract green manufacturing.

The threat of tariffs from tougher local content rules under the UK-EU trade deal, which come into force in just six months’ time, would further disadvantage the industry, it says.