British motoring may be facing hardship with the unknown consequences of Brexit having a major impact on the industry, but the export market is still strong for many vehicles.

Ironically, the list of the top ten British best-sellers around the globe in 2018 features many of the brands that have had negative press in the past few months, with Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover looming large. Perhaps, it is the dependence on the export market, which is best underlined by the list of top cars, which shows the companies which will be hardest hit by any import tariffs which come about due to the UK’s departure from the European Union.

There were 1.24m British built cars exported in 2018, with cars travelling to more than 160 countries, but more than half go to the EU with Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and Spain the top destinations.

Nissan, which has pulled out of a deal to build the new X-Trail in Britain could be forgiven for being nervous about Brexit, their Qashqai and Juke are No.1 and No.7 in the list of top exports. Whilst BMW owned MINI is second top of the list, the only other British brands in the list was Vauxhall with the Astra.

The importance of the export market to JLR is clear when you consider the Range Rover Sport, Range Rover, Range Rover Velar and Jaguar F-Pace make up the remainder of the top ten, which could be a huge problem if export tariffs from the UK become prohibitive to the UK firm.

Top 10 British-built best-sellers worldwide in 2018

Nissan Qashqai
Mini
Honda Civic
Toyota Auris
Vauxhall Astra
Range Rover Sport
Nissan Juke
Range Rover
Range Rover Velar
Jaguar F-Pace

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