NEW Government figures show Britain's car manufacturers are cutting back on production for the home market and exporting more vehicles. In the first eight months of 1996 a total of 1,087,449 cars were built in Britain compared with 1,039,000 in the same period last year. However, this year 535,679 cars were made for the domestic market compared with 551,770 for export against figures of 547,924 and 491,076 respectively last year.

While the 'big three' major manufacturers said they were exporting more vehicles this year than last year, only Ford has actually cut the number of cars it is producing amid continuing concerns that the leading car manufacturers are not totally committed to reducing vehicle supplies.

Ford, Vauxhall and Rover have all cut vehicle supply to the rental industry this year but last week one senior fleet director of a top 10 manufacturer said: 'We all know it is more expensive to cut production than to carry on pushing cars through the market - and if things get worse for the manufacturers, we could see them returning to the bad old ways' (Fleet News September 20).