LONDON (Reuters) - British car production picked up modestly in March, industry figures showed on Thursday, but a fall in exports left total output in the first three months of 2015 a fraction weaker than in 2014.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said that production was 1.9 percent higher in March than in the same month last year, but that output in the first three months of the year had dropped by 0.6 percent.
Production for the fast-growing British market rose by 22 percent in the first three months of the year compared with 2015, but exports were nearly 7 percent lower, the SMMT said.
Vehicles produced per employee per year averaged 11.5 vehicles over the past five years, an increase of almost 25 percent over the previous five-year period, SMMT said.
This contrasts with the overall picture for Britain, where productivity growth has slowed sharply since the financial crisis, lagging behind other industrialised countries and raising concerns about the country's long-term growth prospects.