SMMT chief executive Christopher Macgowan is calling for a more balanced EU approach to environmental and social issues to make the UK automotive industry more globally competitive.

“We are beleaguered by a mass of environmental and social legislation and need more industry influence,” Macgowan says.

The SMMT is beginning its first full year pulling together the influence of three organisations – the Industry Forum, Automotive Academy and Foresight Vehicle. The objectives include beating or matching other countries producing vehicles on innovation, productivity and cost.

The SMMT awaits a ruling from the Office of Fair Trading over the way it estimates total sales of new cars.

Commenting on press reports that the method was anti-competitive, Macgowan says: “It would be utterly astonishing for the SMMT not to produce a forecast for 2005, and we will always do so for every year. The SMMT denies doing anything wrong, but we now await an OFT ruling.”