Jaguar Land Rover has said it “cannot discount” starting manufacturing in the US in response to tariffs on carmakers despite the recent UK-US trade deal.
However, the company said it currently has “no immediate plans” to shift production from the UK and Europe.
It came as bosses at the car giant said that it witnessed an expected dip in sales volumes in late April and early May after increasing activity earlier this year in preparation for potential tariffs.
Tata-owned JLR is among major car manufacturers facing uncertainty after US President Donald Trump’s revealed plans in early April for 25% tariffs on cars imported into the US.
Last week however, Mr Trump and Sir Keir Starmer agreed a UK-US trade deal which will reduce this to 10% for the first 100,000 cars produced in the UK.
Adrian Mardell, chief executive of JLR, said the company “should be OK in coming below that level” and therefore avoid the higher rate of import taxes on its UK-made cars.
The company will face the higher 25% rate however on cars made in Europe, such as its Defender model, but said it “hopes” a US-EU trade deal can be agreed to reduce this.
The chief executive told reporters it is “not planning” to start making cars in the US to sell in the country in order to avoid paying tariffs in the country.
“We had and currently have no cause to build cars in the US at this time, but we cannot discount that it could be the case at some point,” Mr Mardell said.
The company halted shipments to the US in early April after the original tariffs were announced but restarted these last week.
On Tuesday, JLR reported a pre-tax profit of £2.5 billion for the year to March 31, its strongest profit figure for a decade.
Meanwhile, revenues were flat at £29 billion for the year despite a 1.7% decline in the final quarter of the year.
The group said it benefited from record wholesale volumes of its Defender cars, which sold 115,404 units over the year.
