Range Rover Evoque (bankerwin/Bigstock.com)

1972 saw UK car production peak at 1.92m, making it a top five world producer. Since then, high volume car plants have been established in countries that include China, South Korea, India, Mexico and Brazil – nations that now surpass UK production output. Countries that have traditionally produced more cars than Britain (USA, Japan, Germany and France) remain ahead in the manufacturing stats; in the case of the USA and Japan, by a vast ratio.

But 2015 was still a great year for UK car plants, as production increased by 3.9 per cent compared to 2014 – the best performance in a ten years. Volume car making in the UK has died out over the last few decades, with Nissan being the only major producer of 'every day' cars; the Japanese brand built more than 476,000 cars in its Sunderland plant.

And while UK volume car making is dominated by two firms, numerous high-end luxury and sports car marques continue to flourish. These include Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lotus and McLaren. Of course, their sales are modest due to their large price tags. But these are the brands that people get excited about – and have kept alive the notion that Britain still builds great cars.

Here are the six companies that built the most cars on these shores last year…

6th: Vauxhall - 85,241


Opel Cascada (Artzzz/Bigstock.com)

Vauxhall is affiliated to Germany’s Opel, while both are owned by the USA's General Motors (in Vauxhall’s case since 1925). While numerous models are badged as Vauxhalls, only Astras are built in the UK. The remainder are manufactured in plants across mainland Europe. The firm saw output of the Astra rise by 9.5% in 2015, ensuring that the Elsemere Port plant remains a viable facility in the eyes of GM.


5th: Honda - 119,414


2016 Honda Civic Type R (a.zavatskiy/Bigstock.com)

Japanese car giant Honda also builds cars in the United Kingdom, namely its Civic, CR-V and Jazz models. Despite a dip of 2% in output, the eighth biggest car maker globally retains the fifth spot in Britain’s car making stats.

4th: Toyota - 190,161


Toyota Auris (Grisha Bruev/Bigstock.com)

The world's biggest car maker is also one of the largest in the UK, having rolled 190,000 cars off its Derbyshire lines. Output of the Auris and Avensis surged by 10.4% over 2015, securing jobs at the firm’s Burnaston plant.

3rd: MINI - 201,207


Mini Cooper (Eugene Sergeev/Bigstock.com)

As iconic as the original MINI was, only Germany’s BMW had a strong hunch that the old British marque could be revived. And even they may have been surprised at what the revamped hatch – sometimes called a supermini – has accomplished. Overseas demand accounts for the lion's share of sales, with women being particularly fond of this not-so-diminutive British car.

2nd: Nissan - 476,589


Nissan Leaf (VanderWolf Images/Bigstock.com)

Despite a drop in output of 4.7%, Nissan accounts for nearly a third of all cars built in the UK. Its Sunderland plant produces the Juke, LEAF, Qashqai, Note and the Q30 from luxury sister-brand, Infiniti. The Japanese firm lost the top spot this year, although in terms of specific brands, Nissan has by far the largest output figures in the country; two brands comprise the UK's biggest car producer, which is...

1st: Jaguar Land Rover - 489,923


Range Rover Evoque (bankerwin/Bigstock.com)

JLR has flourished since it was taken over by Indian manufacturing giant Tata in 2008. The success of cars like the Jaguar F-Type, the Range Rover Evoque and the Range Rover Sport has proved that appetite remains for UK designed and built cars – both on these shores and globally. Indeed, JLR sold its cars to 170 countries, a reflection of the fact that 80% of UK-built cars are now exported.