Britain’s car manufacturing industry has enjoyed its most fruitful half-year since 2000, with 897,158 new cars rolling off UK car production lines in the first six months of 2016. 

That’s 13 per cent more than in the first half of 2015, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). 

UK-based car manufacturing plants churned out more than 158,000 new cars in June, which marked a 10.4 per cent increase to UK car manufacturing and the 11th consecutive month of growth. 

The EU referendum is thought to have had no immediate impact on UK car manufacturing, according to SMMT Chief Executive MIke Hawes. 

He said that this latest boost to production output was “the result of investment decisions made over a number of years, well before the referendum was even a prospect”. 

Mr Hawes added: “These decisions were based on many factors but, primarily, on tariff-free access to the single market, economic stability and record levels of productivity from a highly skilled workforce. 

“To ensure the sector’s continued growth, and with it the thousands of jobs it supports, these must be priorities in future negotiations.”

These investments have sparked dramatic growth within the UK automotive manufacturing industry, which now employs 169,000 people. 

Some of the world’s most desirable car brands build their cars in Britain, including Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin and Bentley, which has resulted in a strong export market, with more than three-quarters of UK-built cars heading overseas (77.8 per cent).