had its best year in new car sales in 9 years. 1.28 million new cars were sold during the period, a rise of 10% compared to the same period in 2013. In 2014, more than 1.5 million cars were produced, the highest since 2007. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) figures show a total of 2.31 million new cars were registered in 2019, down 2.4% from the year before. It was the third consecutive year of decline, and the SMMT expects that trend to continue in 2020. In the year 2019, the best selling vehicle in the UK was Ford Fiesta, followed by Volkswagen Golf, Ford Transit, Ford Focus, and Vauxhall Corsa. from 2020 In 2019, Honda announced that its Swindon plant will close by 2021. In March 2021, Aston Martin announced that their electric sports models would be manufactured at their car plant in Gaydon, Warwickshire. Assembly plants There are numerous small companies manufacturing a small number of cars such as David Brown Automotive, Lister Cars, Lightning Car Company and Atalanta Motors Production data (* estimated figure) Production forecast The Financial Times has forecast that annual UK vehicle production will exceed its historic peak level (achieved in 1972) by 2017. Their forecasted production levels for 2014 to 2017 are: 2014: 1,724,000 units; 2015: 1,864,000 units; 2016: 1,993,000 units and 2017: 2,062,000 units. Car design The UK has a strong design and technical base, with several foreign companies basing some of their research and development resource in the UK, including: Ford Dunton Technical Centre, Essex Jaguar Land Rover Technical Centre, Gaydon Jaguar Land Rover HQ and Design Centre, Whitley General Motors Millbrook Proving Ground, Bedfordshire Nissan Design Europe, London Nissan Technical Centre Europe, Cranfield SAIC Motor UK Technical Centre, Birmingham Independent designers and design companies include: Gordon Murray Design International Automotive Design Ogle Design Peter Stevens Designs Shado (Stephen Harper) Motorsport It has been estimated that there are about 4,000 companies in the UK involved in the manufacturing industry related to motorsport. Formula One motor racing has made its home in the UK, with seven of the ten teams competing in the 2021 season based in or having their European headquarters in England: Haas F1 Team, Banbury McLaren – Woking Mercedes AMG Formula One Team – Brackley Aston Martin – Silverstone Red Bull Racing – Milton Keynes Alpine F1 Team – Enstone Williams Grand Prix Engineering – Grove