It said much of the growth had been driven by demand for the UK's premium and luxury vehicles. "With India's middle class set to quadruple over the next decade and the country's new vehicle market expected to be worth £64 billion by 2020, demand for new cars in India is on course to boom over the coming years. The nine-fold increase in UK car exports to the nation and global reputation for high quality engineering demonstrate that the UK is well placed to take advantage of these opportunities."
Mike Hawes (pictured), SMMT chief executive, said the increase in UK imports was a trend that had been seen across the Asia region, with exports to the continent more than trebling in the last five years. More than 220,000 cars were exported to Asia in 2014, which is now said to be the UK automotive industry's largest export market after Europe with 18.5% of all UK-produced cars destined for the region.
For more information on the Indian automotive industry take a look at the SMMT's Focus on: India feature.
