The 25 percent invoices imposed by President Trump on imported cars have added to the pressures of vehicle manufacturers around the world, but the pain could be particularly acute to the respectful, but mark the British car industry.
Britain exports over 70 percent of cars it makes. In 2024, it sent about 101,000 of these vehicles – about 17 % of car exports worth $ 7.6 billion (about $ 10.1 billion) – to the United States, according to the company and traders company, an industrial team. Invoices are now threatening to close what was one of Britain’s largest markets.
During the decades, Britain created a reputation for the production of innovative and virtual vehicles such as Defender Land Rover and Morris Minor, which helped ownership of cars affordable as the country came from World War II.
In recent years, however, the car industry has struggled to keep up with the rhythm, as it browsing the obstacles, including global displacement to electric vehicles and Britain’s exit from the main export market, the European Union.
The annual number of cars made in Britain has declined almost 50 % since the end of the last decade, to about 770,000. Now it imports a lot more cars than it does.
Given Trump’s rapid policy, it is impossible for automotive executives to know which level of invoices will stick. But Washington’s moves are already bad news for some of Britain’s highways, which see the United States as a critical growth market.
“This is a very worrying move to build the United Kingdom,” said Peter Wells, a car expert at Cardiff University in Wales.
Mr Wells said that companies would probably be forced to change their plans, such as production and shipping. “So they already cost money to try to deal with instability,” he said.
JLR, a manufacturer of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, said he would suspend missions to the United States for April. The company, owned by Tata Motors, India, is one of the largest vehicle manufacturers in Britain, but 28 % of its sales in the last year was in North America, where it does not make cars.
Any long -term changes in the United States are likely to have a major impact on Britain’s automakers. The United States only sent 18,000 vehicles to Britain last year, imposing 10 percent invoice on US imports.
Some European models from US automakers are doing well in Britain. Ford Puma, built in Romania in a joint business, was recently the top sales model in Britain.
The British car construction is now dominated by a small group of international companies, including Nissan, which is exploiting a large factory in Sunderland. BMW, making the mini. And toyota.
To continue to attract investment, especially in new electric models, these plants must be able to compete with opponents around the planet. Executives and analysts report that the industry is facing a series of challenges, including high costs and stress in the network of suppliers and services after Brexit.
“After all, the United Kingdom is not a competitive place to build cars today,” said Alan Johnson, a senior vice -president of Nissan for construction in the area, she said in a parliamentary hearing last week.
Stuart Bradley, a major engineer at Warwick Manufacturing Group, part of the University of Warwick, said he thought that big brands from highways such as JLR or Rolls-Royce Motor Cars could have a brighter future in Britain than called “producers”.
“I think the high -value market is going to continue to be strong enough,” he said.
Trade unions representing estimated 200,000 car construction workers are worried that invoices are only the last in a series of blows that could lead to job losses or even plant closure.
Some manufacturers have closed the British plants in recent years. In 2021, for example, Honda closed a SWindon factory that employs 3,500 people.
Unite, a trade union, representing about 70,000 autoworkers, estimates that the British automaker operates in just over half of the capacity, probably rejecting the profitability of the spread of costs to large volumes.
“It is not viable,” said Des Quinn, the Unite national employee for the automotive industry. “The overall sector is in crisis.”
Much depends on the difficult transition to electric vehicles. The industry says it is compressed by the British government’s demand to gradually abolish sales of most of the gasoline and diesel cars by 2030.
Britain had made rapid advances to increase the car’s electric fleet. Britain has led Europe, for example, to electric car sales last year, according to the British government.
However, critics say strict government quotas for electric vehicle sales encouraged imports of electric vehicles such as Teslas, which is being carried out in Germany or China, to the detriment of domestic industry. Chinese automakers such as BYD also make raids.
The question is whether British manufacturers can cover in the coming years-especially in the production of smaller, cheaper electric cars for ordinary consumers.
“I am not completely sure that the whole industry will come through non -spoiled,” Mr Wells said.
