British motor manufacturers have quietly sent thousands of additional cars to America in recent weeks as luxury auto brands geared up for Donald Trump’s tariffs aimed at radically curbing vehicle imports to the US. 

Exports of UK-made cars to the US leapt by 34.6 per cent in February compared to the same month in 2024, industry figures show.

Shipments also sharply increased in January (+12.4 per cent) and December (+38.5 per cent) as the US President made clear he was mulling a sharp rise in the import duty on foreign cars but held back from implementation until a 25 per cent levy was finally put in place this week. 

America is a key market for Britain’s high-end car manufacturers with luxury and premium brands such as Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Bentley, Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) making a substantial portion of their annual sales and profits from US customers. Last year, the UK sold cars, the vast majority of them from high-end marques, worth £8.3bn in America – making it the single largest segment of Britain’s £58bn goods exports to the US.

The UK’s £100bn car industry, which exports 80 per cent of its products, is widely regarded as one of the sectors of the British economy most exposed to the Trump administration’s decision to shake up global trade. It was revealed by The i Paper in February that UK car sales in America could be reduced by nearly £600m as a result of the 25 per cent tariff, while leading think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPRR), this week warned that the US levy could lead to up to 25,000 job losses in the British motor sector.

Industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has warned that UK carmakers may have to “review output” as a result of the tariffs and called for government support, including potential incentives for UK car-buyers, to support the sector. A study last year by the US International Trade Commission predicted that a 25 per cent tariff on cars would reduce foreign imports by almost 75 per cent.

At the same time, there is evidence that British carmakers have not been sitting still while Trump perfected his tariff thunderbolt.

In the interval between the White House announcing his intention to impose tariffs and their application, UK manufacturers have been rapidly increasing shipments to their American dealer networks. Figures produced by the SMMT show an average monthly increase in exports of nearly 30 per cent between December and February.

Experts told The i Paper that while some of the export increases can be accounted for by higher US sales for UK car brands set in train prior to Trump’s re-election, the surge in recent weeks is also likely to be an attempt by British makers to exploit what amounts to an export sales loophole by getting ahead of the tariffs by having vehicles on the other side of the Atlantic, ready for purchase, before the levies were put in place.

David Bailey, professor of business economics at the Birmingham Business School, said: “That’s exactly what has happened. Firms have rushed to export cars to the US ahead of expected tariffs.”

American car dealers this week reported a sharp increase in sales, with companies including Hyundai and Ford reporting double-digit increases in sales for March, strongly suggesting that US customers are also hoping to evade the $10,000 price rise on an average car widely expected to arise from the tariffs.

Chris Clowes, executive director at supply chain consultancy Scala, which includes several carmakers among its clients, said: “The recent surge in UK automotive exports to the US suggests a strategic move by UK manufacturers to get ahead of the newly implemented US tariffs. While part of this could reflect a short-term spike in demand, it’s likely that stockpiling has played a significant role, especially given the uncertainty around trade barriers.”

When The i Paper this week contacted British high-end car marques, including JLR, Aston Martin and Rolls-Royce, to ask whether they had been increasing their stocks of cars in America, they did not respond or declined to comment on the issue.

BMW-owned Rolls-Royce, which last year sold 5,712 of its ultra de-luxe cars and counts America as its largest single market, said it considered free trade to be one of its guiding principles: “We should be discussing reducing trade barriers rather than creating more.”

The UK’s stable of premium car brands is nonetheless highly reliant on the US market for a substantial proportion of its sales.

JLR, Britain’s biggest carmaker and the parent company for Land Rover and Range Rover, had sales of £6.5bn in America in the year to March 2024, representing around 20 per cent of its total revenues. Similarly, Aston Martin secures about a quarter of its sales from the US and Canada, while Bentley sold 3,848 cars to the Americas in 2023 – 28 per cent of its total sales for that year. McLaren, the super-carmaker, sends more than a third of its vehicles for sale in North America.

Industry analysts said that unlike volume carmakers such as Volkswagen or Toyota, British luxury marques are likely to be insulated from the impact of the tariffs to some extent by the ability of their wealthy US customers to absorb the price increases that are likely to be passed on for vehicles that can easily cost in excess of $150,000 (£114,000).

Felipe Munoz, an expert with Jato Dynamics, an automotive industry analysis company, said: “These UK brands are perhaps better positioned because the price sensitivity of consumers is lower than in the mainstream segments.”

In a bullish statement, JLR said: “Our luxury brands have global appeal and our business is resilient, accustomed to changing market conditions. Our priorities now are delivering for our clients around the world and addressing these new US trading terms.”

But experts also warned of heavy weather ahead for UK manufacturers even if they have succeeded in securing some temporary respite by ensuring healthy car stocks on the other side of Atlantic.

An industry source told The i Paper: “An additional cost or tariff of 25 per cent is not something that any business is going to be able to absorb and the car sector is no different. There may have been some leeway for getting inventory to the [US] market in recent months, but the hard work of finding resilience and alternative markets starts now.”

Several analysts said that even the hardiest UK car brands were now contemplating a changed economic outlook with reduced sales for 2025.

Clowes said: “As the tariffs take effect, UK manufacturers – particularly luxury brands like JLR, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin and McLaren – may initially weather the storm better than volume producers. However, even these brands aren’t immune. Prolonged tariff pressure could lead to reduced competitiveness, a contraction in US sales, and eventually, risks to UK jobs.”

He added that among the steps which the industry could contemplate is setting up assembly facilities in America to potentially overcome Trump administration requirements that vehicles are made in the US.

Others argue that the picture for UK car makers is also more nuanced than it may first appear.

Ben Farrell, chief executive at industry body the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, pointed out that American producers are set to be hobbled by many of the barriers faced by foreign producers, with Ford’s F150 pick up, part of the company’s best-selling model line, reliant on imported components for 50 per cent of each vehicle.

Farrell said: “These costs are going to be going up for everyone in the US market. So for UK car makers, this is about thinking very carefully about the response, tackling costs to remain competitive and working out where the opportunities and possible alternative markets might be. It’s now all about the agility of response.”