Britain cuts 2017 car production forecast to 1.8 million cars - SMMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will build around 1.8 million cars in 2017, less than originally expected, due to more sluggish growth in Europe, industry body the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders said on Tuesday. A spokesman at the SMMT told Reuters last month that the group forecast car output of 1.95 million cars in 2017, but Chief Executive Mike Hawes said on Tuesday that the figure would be "something in the order of 1.8 million cars." He said that the industry would by 2020 beat the record of 1.92 million cars set in 1972, potentially several years later than originally expected. "We had an expectation that Europe would grow much more rapidly out of recession than it has done," Hawes told reporters. (Reporting by Costas Pitas; writing by Kate Holton; editing by William Schomberg)