Bentley Says Its US Car Sales Are Frozen Until Tariffs Drop

Bentley yesterday said sales to the US remained frozen as customers waited for lower tariffs to kick in from the UK's trade deal with Washington.

- Jasper Jolly

A 10% tariff on 100,000 car exports to the US was agreed last week under a limited transatlantic trade deal.

That would be significantly below the 25% extra levy imposed by the US on the rest of the world but neither government has detailed how the deal would work in practice.

Frank-Steffen Walliser, Bentley's chief executive, said the wait was "super-harming the business at the moment - nobody is moving".

Manufacturers still have no idea when the lower tariffs will be implemented or how the 100,000 cars allowed into the US at the lower rate will be shared out among UK carmakers. British manufacturers exported about 102,000 cars to the US in 2024.

Jaguar Land Rover, Britain's biggest automotive employer, said yesterday it needed to find out whether UK car parts would be subject to the lower tariffs and warned it lacked detail on rules of origin, which determine how cars qualify as British.