Britain's car makers are bucking the gloomy trend in manufacturing with a surge in production, figures for June showed yesterday.

Output during the month, reflecting the buoyant British sales market, rose 37.8% to 155,424 units - the biggest monthly gain since October 1996. Output for export grew by 33.9% but production for the home market inceased by 47.1% in the same period.

Sales in June rose 15.8% to 240,174 units, with Britain, the second biggest retail market in Europe, showing remarkable resilience while European sales as a whole appearing to be likely to decline.

So far this year UK car output - despite the absence of Ford, which has ceased production, and the smaller presence of Vauxhall - has grown 0.7% on last year to 857,597 units.

Christopher Macgowan, the chief executive of the society of motor manufacturers and traders, said: "It's fantastic to see output for both home and export markets rise so strongly."