CAR production slumped again last month, but the fall was the smallest this year as the impact of the scrappage system begins to take hold.

A total of 67,754 cars were made in the UK last month – a drop of 43 per cent on the May 2008 figure, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said. The previous four month-on-month falls had each been more than 50 per cent and this was the least steep reduction since November last year.

Production is already being stimulated as a direct result of the scrappage scheme, with Nissan, in Sunderland, re-employing 250 of the 400 temporary workers it made redundant in January due to the increase in orders. Since the introduction of scrappage schemes in the UK, France, Germany and Italy, the plant is making an extra 32,000 models, which has enabled to take on more staff on four-month contracts, which could be extended.

RECOVERY HOPES: Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey yesterday said the UK housing market should avoid a “severe” downturn as recent signs gave hope of a recovery. The group said prices were now broadly flat, while its forward order book had soared 73 per cent since the year end to £971m as buyers returned to the market. Cancellation rates were below the long-run average and it is hoping to see a rise in selling prices over the second half of the year after keeping a tight control on its unsold homes stock.

NEW DIRECTOR: Electric vehicle company Tanfield has announced the appointment of Jeremy Wooding as an independent non-executive director. Mr Wooding joins the board of the company, based in Washington, Wearside, after a distinguished career in marketing, corporate management and strategic development of the aerospace, defence and transport engineering sectors. He was awarded an OBE in 1999 for aviation services in the export market. Mr Wooding replaces Colin Billiet, who is developing a new technology company, Nano-porous Solutions.

CBE HONOUR: Ian Shott, president and chief executive of Newcastlebased pharma and biotech manufacturing services group Excelsyn, received a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. The award recog-nises services to chemical engineering. Mr Shott chairs the Government’s innovation growth team for industrial biotechnology and was recently appointed president of the Institute of Chemical Engineers.