Tackling tough American tariffs | Axon’s Automotive Anorak

With so few USA-built vehicles imported into the UK (less than 2.75 per cent of all new passenger cars registered in the UK were built in America in 2024), this proposed 2.5 per cent imp duty would have a marginal impact on the British government’s revenue, yet may be enough to tempt Trump to reduce his planned tariff charge for UK-made cars.

America has long been failing to build cars that appeal to our tastes or are suitable to our needs and crowded traffic conditions. Before World War I, the majority of cars on British roads were derived from the American conceived and built Ford Model T, which had also been assembled in Manchester since 1911.

Up to the outbreak of World War II, American cars remained quite popular in the UK, often with local assembly with bespoke coachwork adapted for British roads and tastes. This was especially the case with some UK/Dagenham-made Ford models, plus a few Key-assembled Chrysler and GM/Buicks.

Post-war though, North American cars fell out of favour with British consumers, as the US cars were usually too big, thirsty and flashy for conservative UK tastes. A few adapted RHD Canadian-built cars remained as niche sellers here, with Canada being favoured over USA products due to its British Commonwealth connections. 

Tesla was (and remains) the top American car brand here, with its all-electric models accounting over 50,000 sales to take a 2.58 per cent share of the total UK new car market in 2024. Last year, the Tesla Model Y was the fifth best-selling car in the UK (plus the top-selling all-electric car) with over 32,000 examples sold. Of these, the baulk Model Ys sold here were built in the USA, with some also made at Tesla’s production facilities in Shanghai, plus Grünheide  in Germany, where a number of the 17,425 new Model 3s sold here were also built.

Only the niche, low-volume LHD-only Tesla Model X and Model S were imported from Tesla’s main Fremont plant in the USA. So far this year, though, Tesla’s UK sales are plummeting as they are in mainland Europe, with its market share now down to under 2 per cent. A degree of shame in driving a Tesla, with its strong Elon Musk associations, now an issue for some motorists. 

Some way behind Tesla is the USA’s second strongest car maker in the UK: Jeep. In 2024, Jeep sold just over 9,000 new vehicles in Britain to take just 0.46 per cent share of the new car market. Jeep’s top seller in the UK is the Avenger, a smaller SUV all built in the historic FSO/Fiat plant in Tychy, Poland. The second most popular Jeep model is the Compass, made at a Fiat factory in Melfi, Italy. The Jeep Recon is made in Brampton, Canada, leaving just the low-selling Wagoneer, Cherokee and Wrangler models built in the USA.

As for Ford, its specialist Mustang coupé remains imported from its American Flat Rock factory, with the large Explorer SUV made in Chicago. Ironically, the electric Mustang Mach-E outsells the classic ICE Mustang, with all Mach-Es built in Mexico.

With the exception of a few SUV cross-over models built by the premium German marques of BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which it makes in the USA, and apart from a tiny handful of Chevrolet Corvettes imported from GM’s famous Bowling Green facility and a few Chrysler Dodge and GMC Hummer models privately imported into Britain by specialist London car dealer Clive Sutton, no other American-made new cars are imported into the UK.

Only time will tell if the Chancellor will succeed in reducing the planned 25 per cent tariff rate Trump is currently planning to apply to all UK-built vehicles, from JLR, MINI, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, Lotus, Morgan, McLaren and so on, given the likelihood for the President to change his mind, but this will certainly be a welcome boost for the beleaguered UK motor industry.