LONDON (Kyodo) Japanese manufacturers are expected to produce more than half of Britain's cars for the first time this year following years of substantial investment and the demise of the last British-owned mass carmaker.

Figures show that Nissan Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. will produce around 800,000 of the 1.53 million automobiles that the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Ltd. predicts will be made in 2006.

Keith Lewis, media manager for the SMMT, said it is difficult to predict future output levels, but "there's every expectation they could well breach the 50 percent mark."