Jaguar Land Rover considers making cars in the US amid Trump tariff concerns

The head of JLR (previously known as Jaguar Land Rover) has declined to eliminate the possibility of moving production to the United States while the car manufacturer investigates the consequences of the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump on vehicle imports.

While revealing the company’s best full-year profits in ten years, CEO Adrian Mardell mentioned that he is not ruling out the option of starting manufacturing operations in America, despite the recent UK-US trade agreement approval.

However, he added that JLR currently has ‘no immediate plans’ to shift production from its heartland in the UK or Europe.

The announcement coincided with the news that the UK’s second-largest car producer experienced an anticipated decline in sales volumes in late April and early May. This was a result of a temporary halt in exports to the US following President Trump’s surprise announcement of an additional 25 per cent tariff on cars on Liberation Day – a tariff that has since been lessened to 10 per cent for the UK.

The car firm delivered almost 100,000 units to the US in 2024, all of them imported and the majority from UK factories. However, some are built at its European plant in Slovakia, which is still subject to the higher tariffs. 

Experts have estimated that the tariffs imposed on EU-made models could add around $25,000 to the price of JLR’s most popular product, the new Land Rover Defender, which is built at its Nitra factory.

The boss of JLR (formerly Jaguar Land Rover) has refused to rule out shifting manufacturing to the US as the car giant continues to examine the impact of Donald Trump ‘s tariffs on vehicle imports

Last Thursday, Mr Trump and Sir Keir Starmer agreed a more favourable UK-US trade deal which will reduce this to 10 per cent for the first 100,000 UK cars delivered across the Atlantic.

This is still significantly higher than the 2.5 per cent levy in place before the Liberation Day announcement in April, though has widely been celebrated by UK car makers in the last week. 

The agreement was confirmed over the phone during Starmer’s scheduled visit to the JLR Solihull plant in the West Midlands, with Mardell saying the reduced tariffs would help protect jobs in the UK. 

Last year, the UK exports just over 101,000 motors to the US, though the JLR chief executive today said he expects the company ‘should be OK in coming below’ the 100k threshold and therefore avoid the higher rate of import taxes on its UK-made cars.

The auto firm will face the higher 25 per cent 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.

Mardell told reporters JLR is ‘not planning’ to start making cars in the US to sell in the country in order to avoid paying tariffs in the country – but refused to rule it out for the future.

‘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,’ he said.

The company halted shipments to the US in early April after the original tariffs were announced – but restarted these last week.

CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, Adrian Mardell, (left) sitting alongside Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during his phone call with President Donald Trump to confirm the UK-US trade deal on Thursday

JLR said it benefited from record wholesale volumes of its Defender cars, which sold 115,404 units over the 12-month period. However, because these are built in Nitra, Slovakia, they will be subject to Trump’s 25% tariffs on EU-made motors

JLR’s 10-year profit record; Defender popularity grows

On Tuesday, JLR reported a pre-tax profit of £2.5billion for the year to 31 March 2025, its strongest profit figure for a decade.

Meanwhile, revenues were flat at £29billion for the fiscal year, despite a 1.7 per cent 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 12-month period.

Meanwhile, just 26,862 Jaguars were sold worldwide in the financial year of 2024-25 – a 45.8 per cent drop – after production of all models ceased last summer in preparation for the company’s electrified relaunch.

Around half of all Jaguar deliveries were F-Pace SUVs.

Commenting on the performance, Mardell said: ‘JLR has ended the year with strong annual and quarterly earnings, including delivering our tenth consecutive profitable quarter and our net debt zero target. 

‘This strong and consistent performance, the commitment of our people, partners and clients and the appeal of our luxury brands will support our response to current global economic challenges including the evolving global trading environment.’

Indian owners Tata Motors said on Tuesday it was reevaluating its annual profitability target for the luxury car brand, joining a host of automakers worldwide that have flagged forecast uncertainty due to tariff changes. 

The next 12 months will be pivotal for the premium car maker, with the arrival of its first all-electric Range Rover (pictured) imminent

Jaguar’s much-debated electric rebrand is also expected to gather pace over the next 12 months. JLR says over 32k people have expressed interest in its forthcoming £100k electric GT (pictured during testing)

Today, JLR and Nissan joined the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Fiat-owner Stellantis and Volvo to abstain from forecasting the coming year’s earnings. 

‘We are assessing our guidance in light of the recent UK-U.S. trade deal announced on 8 May and will provide an update at our investor day on June 16,’ said parent Tata Motors, which gets about two-thirds of its overall revenue from JLR.

The next 12 months will be pivotal for the premium car maker, with the arrival of its first all-electric Range Rover imminent and Jaguar’s widely-debated relaunch as an EV-only maker expected to gather pace.

JLR says that, to date, over 32,000 people have expressed interest in Jaguar’s forthcoming electric GT as part of its controversial rebrand.