By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

The British car industry could continue to enjoy its renaissance for at least another five years according to Phil Harrold, a partner at PwC’s Automotive practice. He commented after the firm’s auto analyst arm, Autofacts, predicted global production figures would top 83.19 million in 2013 up from 79.1 million this year.

In the UK, recent statistics have shown that there has been a 12.1% (151,250) rise in new UK car registrations in October as the new Toyota Auris rolled off the production line in Derby. In total, the new car market has increased by 5% over the year to date with more than 1.7m cars sold – nearly 84,000 more than a year ago.

“British engineering and car manufacturing does have a bright future. With investments by GM, BMW and Nissan in their UK production plants, and now Toyota, this shows the world is backing the UK as a base for automotive manufacturing,” Harrold said. “This is an interesting contrast with Japan, where the strength of the Yen will potentially force the Japanese car makers to consider further relocation of production capacity. In addition Japanese car manufacturers are seeing big reductions in volumes in what has traditionally been one of their biggest growth markets.”