The British car industry's continuing success story took a knock as fresh data revealed car output dropped 2.8 per cent in September.
The Society for Motoring Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said 137,068 cars were built in the UK over the month, but insisted 2014 would still be the best year for the industry since the 2008-9 financial crisis.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of SMMT, said, "The continued investment by the sector into new models means the September figures took a slight dip as some plants underwent re-tooling, but it is these same new models which will help increase production volumes in the future."
Japanese car giant Honda stopped producing its 2014 Civic hatchback in September, switching to the 2015 models of its CR-V sports utility vehicle. The change caused a dip in output.
Over the first nine months of the year, British car plants made 1.13 million vehicles – a level of output not seen since before the economic crisis of six years ago.
The SMMT believe car production will pass the 2 million mark in 2017, tearing up the previous record of 1.92 million set in 1972.
This increased production will in part be due to Jaguar's new XE model, manufactured in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, as well as the BMW Mini 5 door – built in Cowley, Oxfordshire.
The failures of the British car industry in the 1970s and 80s are largely attributed to the development of models that no-one wanted, as well as possessing levels of reliability that would have owners' annual breakdown cover called into action a little too often.
Now, however, UK cars are affordable whilst being technologically equal to vehicles built by the likes of Germany, Japan and the USA.
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