Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) have highlighted a considerable increase in the volume of vehicles being produced in the UK that are being exported overseas.

Data published at the organisation's International Automotive Summit, held today (June 11th) in Canary Wharf, revealed the total value of UK vehicle exports has more than doubled over the best part of a decade, from £12 billion in 2004 to £24.8 billion in 2013.

Meanwhile, the average value of cars being sold overseas has also seen a significant increase in the last decade, growing from £10,200 to £20,640. This growth has been attributed to a shift towards the production of higher-quality vehicles by many of the country's largest car producers.

The SMMT's figures showed that in volume terms, premium and specialist brands made up approximately 28.9 per cent of UK vehicle exports a decade ago. However, today, this figure stands at 42.4 per cent.

In total, UK manufacturers produced more than 1.5 million vehicles last year and the industry remains on course to breach the two million production barrier by 2017.

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes commented: "Countries around the world are spending twice what they were ten years ago on UK-built cars. This reflects the thriving nature of our domestic industry and our global reputation for engineering expertise."

According to SMMT's research, 77.3 per cent of all vehicles built in the UK were exported to foreign markets last year, with 49.2 per cent of models being sold in the EU.

Outside the eurozone, the largest consumers of UK-built vehicles were China (ten per cent), the US (9.2 per cent) and South Arica (2.3 per cent), highlighting the considerable global appeal for British-produced vehicles across the globe.

Overall, the UK currently stands as the 14th largest manufacturer of cars, vans and heavy goods vehicles in the world and is fourth largest in the EU, behind only France (1.74 million models built in 2013), Spain (2.16 million) and Germany (5.71 million).

"With booming production volumes and the increasing value of UK car manufacturing, we are enjoying healthy demand from both growing and established markets," Mr Hawes stated.

"We want this success to continue, but urgently need more young people to join our industry, working in every area from design and engineering to manufacturing and retail."

Indeed, the UK automotive sector currently employs approximately 739,000 people, with 146,000 individuals directly engaged within the car manufacturing industry.

And while a 39 per cent increase in the number of apprenticeship positions being created across the automotive sector has been witnessed since 2011, the industry still requires more to be done to attract young and enthusiastic workers into a career in automotive manufacture and design.

With this in mind, businesses operating across the UK automotive spectrum have pledged to create an additional 100,000 jobs by 2020 – many of which will be filled by young apprentices taking their first steps in their car manufacturing career.

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Posted by Steph Bennett, Account Manager, The Fuelcard People.