He added: “Covid has consumed every inch of capability and capacity and the industry has not the resource, the time nor the clarity to prepare for a further shock of a hard Brexit.
“That’s why we do need to ‘turbo charge’ the negotiations to secure a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU that maintains tariff and quota free trade… With such a deal, a strong recovery is possible, we can safeguard the industry and our reputation as an attractive destination for foreign investment and a major trade player.”
The impact of the pandemic on manufacturing is expected to cut annual car and light commercial vehicle production volumes by a third to just 920,000 units this year.
The SMMT said that with an ambitious, tariff-free FTA in place, full recovery is expected to take up to five years, with output reaching pre-crisis levels of 1.35 million units by 2025.
But the trade group warned that a no-deal scenario would severely damage these prospects and could see volumes falling below 850,000 by 2025 - the lowest level since 1953.
This would mean a £40 billion cut in revenues, on top of the £33.5 billion cost of Covid-19 production losses over the period, the SMMT said.
