A group of British automotive suppliers has asked the Government for support to redirect manufacturing capacity into defence and aerospace work as falling vehicle orders put skilled industrial jobs under pressure.
The manufacturers, led by Evtec Group chairman David Roberts, have written to ministers arguing that factories already equipped for high-volume automotive production could become part of the expanding defence supply chain if barriers around certification, finance, and procurement can be overcome.
The letter was signed by eight other manufacturers and the president of the Confederation of British Metalforming. The businesses are concentrated in the West Midlands and North West, two regions with substantial automotive supply-chain capacity and long-established engineering workforces.
Their intervention comes as UK vehicle production remains under pressure while defence procurement is moving in the opposite direction. Automotive manufacturing directly employs more than 183,000 people, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, supported by more than 2,500 component providers. The wider industry employs about 830,000 people.
Manufacturers argue that much of the equipment and expertise used in vehicle production can be relevant to defence programmes. Their letter points to capabilities including precision machining, castings, injection moulding, fabrication, surface treatment, metrology, and high-volume quality control.
The principal obstacle is the cost and time required to qualify for aerospace and defence work. The companies say certification can take between 18 and 36 months, leaving suppliers facing a period in which they must invest in new processes and approvals before defence orders begin to generate revenue.
The letter describes the financing gap succinctly: “The capacity exists. The people exist. What is missing is the bridge.”
The manufacturers are seeking government help with certification, industrial energy costs, and the establishment of a West Midlands pilot programme to help automotive suppliers enter aerospace and defence markets.
The request coincides with a wider change in UK defence procurement policy. The Ministry of Defence has committed to increasing annual direct and indirect spending with small and medium-sized businesses by £2.5bn, taking the total to £7.5bn by summer 2028. Its SME action plan also acknowledges that access to finance, procurement complexity, and lengthy commercial processes can prevent smaller suppliers from participating in defence programmes.
That creates an overlap between two industrial pressures. Defence planners want greater domestic resilience and additional productive capacity, while parts of the automotive supply chain are searching for new sources of demand as vehicle manufacturers restructure and volumes weaken.
Recent UK manufacturing data has already shown companies increasing automation and pursuing defence opportunities while contending with high energy costs and subdued investment. The latest request goes further by asking government to establish a formal route for existing automotive capacity to enter tightly controlled defence markets.
The transition would still require material changes inside participating businesses. Defence programmes typically involve security clearances, export controls, specialist quality standards, longer procurement cycles, and lower production volumes than mass-market automotive manufacturing. Suppliers may therefore need to alter operating models as well as acquire new accreditation.
Defence contracts would not necessarily replace declining automotive work at the same scale or speed. Programmes can be long-lived, but qualification periods are lengthy and demand is concentrated among a smaller number of prime contractors.
The manufacturers argue that maintaining factories and skilled workers through the transition would be less costly than rebuilding equivalent capacity later. Evtec already operates across mobility, defence, and energy markets, giving the group exposure to the overlap between civilian manufacturing processes and higher-specification industrial programmes.
The Government has said it is working with industry to improve defence supply-chain resilience through grants, lower energy costs, and measures intended to increase private investment. The Ministry of Defence’s SME programme similarly commits to reforming access to procurement opportunities.
Whether those wider policies develop into a dedicated conversion mechanism for automotive suppliers remains unresolved. With defence orders expanding over a multi-year horizon but qualification taking as long as three years, the availability of transition support will affect how much existing industrial capacity survives long enough to enter the market.
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