New car prices in the UK could be set to soar if the country is forced into a hard Brexit, that’s the view of a major car boss this week.

Speaking at this week’s Geneva Motor Show, David Peel, managing director of Peugeot UK warned that a predicted slump in the Pound combined with WTO tariffs could add up to £3,000 to the cost of a £15,000 car.

“We’ve been getting in more stock in ahead of 29 March in case there’s a hard Brexit. We’re currently holding around 25-30 per cent more new cars in stock than we would normally at this time of year just in case there’s no deal and a tariff applies,” Peel told HonestJohn.co.uk.

“The exchange rate has recently been stable at around €1.15 to the Pound. We’re working on the idea that it will be at parity [£1:€1] if there’s a hard Brexit, so this would add another £1500 to a £15,000 car and a total of £3000 with the WTO tariffs in place.

“As a manufacturer we’ve not got the (profit) margin to absorb a change of that scale and we’ve got a website ready to go with the tariff increases in place should we need to use it.”

There is a flipside for the expected price rises on imported cars, those car manufacturers who build cars already in the UK will not be troubled by exchange rate changes or even WTO tariffs, so could realistically offer a competitive advantage in turbulent times.

Sell or part ex your car today