Brexit offers “no advantages” for UK carmakers, warn MPs

A group of MPs has warned Brexit offers “no advantages” to the UK automotive sector, as well as called trade negotiations “an exercise in damage limitation”.
A report from the Business, energy as well as industrial strategy (BEIS) Committee, a cross-party choose committee comprised of 11 MPs, highlights difficulties surrounding trade, regulatory approval, as well as the free motion of EU workers.
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If the UK leaves the EU without having agreed a set of private trade arrangements, world trade Organisation (WTO) tariffs of 10 per cent would be used to cars. This, the report says, would mean “an typical £15,000 vehicle would expense around £16,500” so “the present revenue margin of around £450 on a £15,000 vehicle would be comfortably wiped out”. The UK currently exports just under 80 per cent of its cars, 56 per cent of which go to EU countries.
• UK vehicle market faces 13% increase in costs after Brexit
While arguments have previously been made that leaving the EU would free the UK to negotiate advantageous trade offers with private countries, the report’s authors think about that: “The UK cannot expect an growth of trade overseas to outweigh the loss of trade to Europe arising from a difficult Brexit”, adding that hitherto: “Membership of the EU has not been a barrier to growth into overseas markets”.