The U.K.’s auto sector is reeling from its worst month for production since 1952—when the Morris Minor ruled the country’s roads and Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne—as Trump’s tariff war added to a bearish environment for the country’s biggest carmakers.
Commercial vehicle exports fell by more than 75% in April as automakers digested the fallout of Donald Trump’s tariffs on the car industry and his more sweeping plans announced on “Liberation Day.” Cars bound for the U.S., which took around a sixth of the U.K.’s car exports, experienced a slight decline in April, with EU exports fuelling the biggest drop.
U.K. luxury carmakers, including Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin, were regarded as being particularly vulnerable to a trade war because much of their appeal comes from keeping most production from its historic local plants.
Jaguar Land Rover said in early April that it would be pausing U.S. shipments while it assessed the fallout from Trump’s tariff announcements. The carmaker sold more than 128,000 cars to the States, its biggest market, in 2024.
A calendar quirk of the Easter break falling later in 2025, which accordingly shuttered production for an extra two days over the bank holiday, also contributed to depressed production figures, the SMMT said. Indeed, March production figures showed nearly 80,000 vehicles being produced in the U.K. that month.
The development is expected to prevent a lot of pain in the U.K. auto market, and SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes is taking a victory lap after demonstrating the sector’s influence on the U.K.’s international relations.
“Government has recognised automotive manufacturing’s critical role in driving the UK economy, having successfully negotiated improved trading conditions for the sector with the US, EU and India in the space of a month,” said Hawes.
“To take advantage of these trading opportunities we must secure additional investment which will depend on the competitiveness and confidence that can be provided by a comprehensive and innovative long-term industrial strategy. Get this right and the jobs, economic growth and decarbonisation will flow across the UK.”
