Car registrations rise 3.3%

SMMT chief executive Paul Everett said the strong April new car market had raised confidence across the UK motor industry. David Raistrick (pictured), UK manufacturing leader at Deloitte, said the increase came as a surprise and was "good news for the industry, particularly in light of last week's announcement that the UK has fallen back into recession after a 0.2% contraction in UK growth". But he had a warning for motor manufacturers whose prospects were not looking equally positive. "The latest PMI figures released this week highlighted the manufacturing industry barely grew in April as weaker overseas demand hits new export orders – making a good case for those who are losing confidence in the sector," he said. "Considering the manufacturing industry accounts for about 11% of the UK economy, this is likely to have a significant impact across the supply chain. The single biggest concern facing this sector today is the huge skills gap and competition for talent. A report by the World Economic Forum and Deloitte released last week indicated 10 million global manufacturing jobs are unfilled because of this skills gap and, regardless of manufacturing companies' willingness to recruit; the quality of applications is a big concern."