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Luxury German carmaker Porsche warns of Brexit price hike on UK cars

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Luxury German carmaker Porsche warns of Brexit price hike on UK cars
Porsche employees in Leipzig. Photo: DPA

Porsche customers in the UK should brace for a price hike of up to 10 percent in case of a hard Brexit, the luxury German carmaker warned Monday.

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The company said it had taken the "precautionary step" of informing customers whose cars are due to be delivered after March 29th, the day Britain leaves the European Union, that they could become more expensive if new border tariffs are imposed.

SEE ALSO: Merkel slams 'frightening' US attack on German cars

"As one potential outcome of the Brexit negotiations, there is a possibility that a duty of up to 10 percent may be applied to cars imported into the UK," Stuttgart-based Porsche said in a statement, adding that drivers could still make changes to their order.

Customers who had already paid a deposit by January 17th will not be affected by the potential tariff hikes, it added.

SEE ALSO: No-deal Brexit: Country by country guide on how the rights of Britons will be affected

'Fear of no-deal'

It remains uncertain whether Britain will strike a deal with the EU by March 29th, and car manufacturers have joined other industries in calling for urgent clarity on what the future trade relationship might look like.

Business leaders fear a hard or no-deal Brexit could lead to import duties on EU goods arriving into the UK and different regulatory requirements that would badly disrupt supply chains.

Porsche sold 14,000 cars in Britain in 2017, making it the firm's second-biggest market in Europe after Germany.

According to Bloomberg News, the starting price of Porsche's Macan compact SUV would jump from £46,344 (€52,880) to £50,978 if the 10-percent surcharge were imposed.

As The Local has reported, a no-deal Brexit could cost more than 100,000 jobs in Germany, hitting the auto and technology industries worst.

That's according to a recent study by conducted by the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research Halle (IWH) and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, looking at the effects of a hard Brexit on different parts of Germany.

SEE ALSO: No-deal Brexit could cost Germany 100,000 jobs

It showed the automobile and technology industries would bear the brunt of the consequences.

 

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