Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) is the trade association

Trade association

A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry...

for the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

motor industry. It "promote the interests of the UK automotive industry at home and abroad".

History

It was founded by Frederick Richard Simms

Frederick Richard Simms

Frederick Richard Simms was a British mechanical engineer, businessman, prolific inventor and motor industry pioneer. Simms coined the words "petrol" and "motorcar"...

on 16 July 1902. In January 1959 it moved to Forbes House, and in August 2011 it moved into its current offices at 71 Great Peter Street, London.

Motor Show

One of its early functions was holding motor shows, the earliest of which was at Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...

in January 1903 (now known as the British International Motor Show

British International Motor Show

The British International Motor Show is an automobile show held biennially in the United Kingdom. It is recognised as an international show by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles. The 2008 was the last event with no news of a return of the British International Motor Show...

). The Motor Industry Research Association

Motor Industry Research Association

MIRA Ltd, formerly known as the Motor Industry Research Association, is a limited company based near Nuneaton in Hinckley and Bosworth, Leicestershire in the United Kingdom, which provides product engineering, research, testing, information and certification services to the automotive...

(MIRA) was formed in 1945. In 1978, the Motor Show moved to the National Exhibition Centre

National Exhibition Centre

The National Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre in Birmingham, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station. It has 20 interconnected halls, set in grounds of 628 acres making it the...

. In 2006, the Motor Show returned to London at ExCel

ExCeL Exhibition Centre

ExCeL London is an exhibitions and conference centre in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located on a site on the northern quay of the Royal Victoria Dock in London Docklands, between Canary Wharf and London City Airport.- History :The centre was built by Sir Robert McAlpine, opened...

in 2006.

Vehicle registrations

In July 1972 it started the Motor Vehicle Registration Information System (MVRIS), which works on behalf of the government to collate data about new registrations of vehicles.

Consumer protection

The Motor Industry Code of Practice for New Cars was launched in 2004, which provides trading standards for consumers, via automotive traders who are registered with the Motor Codes code of practice. The UK car industry has had a reputation of a minority of garages and repair companies giving consumers a less-than-satisfactory level of performance, with (generally) female consumers being cynically targeted for excessive costs for maintaining their cars. Call-out charges for repairs and roadside breakdown

Breakdown (vehicle)

A vehicle breakdown is the operational failure of a motor vehicle in such a way that the underlying problem prevents the vehicle from being operated at all, or impedes the vehicle's operation so much, that it is very difficult or nearly impossible, or dangerous to operate, or else at risk of...

s have been known to be uncompetitively high. The Motor Industry Code of Practice for Service and Repair was launched in August 2008 to correct any cowboy practices of financial manipulation. More than 4,000 garages across the UK now are registered with this scheme. It was claimed by the National Consumer Council

Consumer Focus

Consumer Focus is a statutory consumer organisation in England, Wales, Scotland, and, for postal services, Northern Ireland, formed in 2008 by the merging Postwatch, Energywatch and the Welsh, Scottish and National Consumer Councils...

that substandard repair work by UK garages was costing consumers around £4 billion a year.

Activities

The organisation "promotes the interests of the UK automotive industry at home and abroad" for a sector that produced 1.39 million vehicles - including cars and commercial vehicles - and 2.39 million engines in the UK (2010) and employs a UK workforce of more than 700,000. The organisation advocates and lobbies

Lobbying

Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...

on behalf of the sector, in particular for vehicle and component manufacturers, and the motor retail sector.

It settles any disputes on cars in the UK that are still under warranty. It monitors combined sales of cars in the UK.

Each year at the end of May, it holds the SMMT Test Day for motoring journalists at General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

' Millbrook Proving Ground at Millbrook, Bedfordshire

Millbrook, Bedfordshire

Millbrook is a small village and civil parish near Bedford. It has a population of 130. Millbrook railway station, on the Marston Vale Line is about two miles from the village....

Structure

Aside from the Secretariat, who run the organisation on a daily basis with around 80 staff in 13 departments, and the Executive, there are many working groups and technical committees for trade sectors, and for research and marketing topics in the car industry. The future of the British automotive industry is facing many technical challenges with strict EU emission legislation

European emission standards

European emission standards define the acceptable limits for exhaust emissions of new vehicles sold in EU member states. The emission standards are defined in a series of European Union directives staging the progressive introduction of increasingly stringent standards.Currently, emissions of...

, and the introduction of electric

Electric car

An electric car is an automobile which is propelled by electric motor, using electrical energy stored in batteries or another energy storage device. Electric cars were popular in the late-19th century and early 20th century, until advances in internal combustion engine technology and mass...

and fuel cell vehicle

Hydrogen vehicle

A hydrogen vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen as its onboard fuel for motive power. Hydrogen vehicles include hydrogen fueled space rockets, as well as automobiles and other transportation vehicles...

External links

Video clips

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