British sports car exports span established luxury marques, fast-growing international delivery networks, and a much larger UK automotive industry. Aston Martin reported 6,030 wholesale vehicles worldwide in FY 2024, while Lotus delivered 3,634 sportscars from January through September 2024. The figures below separate wholesale volumes from deliveries and show the measurement periods and regions clearly.
Contents
- Aston Martin’s FY 2024 export footprint
- Aston Martin sports-car mix and fourth-quarter results
- Lotus deliveries through September 2024
- Lotus growth in the first half of 2024
- The UK’s most important finished-car markets
- The wider UK automotive export base
Aston Martin’s FY 2024 export footprint
Aston Martin’s Annual Report and Accounts 2024 reported 6,030 wholesale vehicles worldwide in FY 2024. The report uses wholesale volume, so these figures describe vehicles supplied into markets rather than a registration count. The UK accounted for 1,086 vehicles, leaving the majority of the reported volume outside the home market.
The regional breakdown was led by the Americas, with 1,928 wholesale vehicles. EMEA excluding the UK contributed 1,796, while APAC contributed 1,220. Together, those three non-UK regions accounted for 4,944 vehicles, compared with 1,086 in the UK. This distribution places the export markets at the centre of Aston Martin’s FY 2024 sales footprint.
For comparison, Aston Martin reported 6,620 worldwide wholesale vehicles in FY 2023. The 2024 total was reported as 9% lower than FY 2023. UK wholesale volume moved from 1,141 in FY 2023 to 1,086 in FY 2024, while the Americas moved from 2,037 to 1,928. EMEA excluding the UK changed from 1,994 to 1,796, and APAC changed from 1,448 to 1,220.
| Aston Martin wholesale market | FY 2023 | FY 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Worldwide | 6,620 | 6,030 |
| UK | 1,141 | 1,086 |
| Americas | 2,037 | 1,928 |
| EMEA excluding UK | 1,994 | 1,796 |
| APAC | 1,448 | 1,220 |
These are annual wholesale figures, not a direct measure of the number of cars shipped by sea or the value of exports. They are nevertheless useful for comparing the scale and geographic distribution of a British luxury sports-car manufacturer across two financial years. The source reports the worldwide total and regional categories together, allowing the home market and overseas markets to be viewed on the same basis.
Aston Martin sports-car mix and fourth-quarter results
The same Aston Martin annual report separates FY 2024 wholesale volume into Sport/GT, SUV, and Specials categories. Sport/GT volume was 3,925 vehicles, SUV volume was 1,887, and Specials volume was 218. Sport/GT therefore represented the largest reported product category by volume in that financial year, although the report’s categories include more than a single model line.
The comparable FY 2023 figures were 3,530 Sport/GT vehicles, 2,939 SUVs, and 151 Specials. The Sport/GT figure was higher in FY 2024 than in FY 2023, while the SUV figure was lower. Specials also had a larger reported volume in FY 2024 than in FY 2023.
The product mix matters when reading export statistics because a total vehicle number does not identify how much volume came from sports cars, SUVs, or limited-run vehicles. Aston Martin’s published categories provide that distinction without assigning the product categories to individual export regions.
The fourth quarter provides a separate short-period indicator. Aston Martin reported 2,391 wholesale vehicles in Q4 2024, compared with 2,222 in Q4 2023. In the same periods, Q4 Sport/GT wholesale volume was 1,509 and 1,440 respectively. Q4 SUV wholesale volume was 822 in 2024 and 699 in 2023, while Specials were 60 in 2024 and 83 in 2023.
| Aston Martin category | Q4 2023 | Q4 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Total wholesale vehicles | 2,222 | 2,391 |
| Sport/GT | 1,440 | 1,509 |
| SUV | 699 | 822 |
| Specials | 83 | 60 |
These quarterly numbers are not a substitute for a full-year export series. They show how the final quarter’s product categories contributed to wholesale volume, while the regional figures above show where the full-year vehicles were reported. Keeping those two dimensions separate avoids treating a product category as if it were an export destination.
Lotus deliveries through September 2024
Lotus reported delivery figures, rather than Aston Martin’s wholesale measure, in its unaudited third-quarter and first nine months 2024 financial results. From January through September 2024, Lotus delivered 7,617 vehicles worldwide. Of that total, 3,634 were sportscars and 3,983 were lifestyle SUVs and sedans.
The comparable January-September 2023 total was 3,221 vehicles, including 1,459 sportscars. Lotus reported that sportscar deliveries were 149% higher year over year in January-September 2024 and that total deliveries were 136% higher. The published growth rates describe the company’s comparison for those matching nine-month periods.
Lotus also reported a regional view for January through September 2024. Europe accounted for 2,683 deliveries, China for 1,880, North America for 1,665, and the rest of the world for 1,389. Those regional figures sum to the reported worldwide total of 7,617, so the geography covers the complete period total on the published classification.
For January through September 2023, the source reported 568 deliveries in Europe, 1,993 in China, and 660 in the rest of the world. A 2023 North America figure was not included in the supplied regional claims, so the two years should not be compared region by region beyond the categories with figures available for both periods.
| Lotus measure | Jan–Sep 2023 | Jan–Sep 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Worldwide deliveries | 3,221 | 7,617 |
| Sportscar deliveries | 1,459 | 3,634 |
| Europe | 568 | 2,683 |
| China | 1,993 | 1,880 |
| Rest of world | 660 | 1,389 |
The Lotus numbers show why “British sports car exports” can describe more than one type of statistic. They measure deliveries by the company, include both sportscars and other vehicle categories in the total, and cover an explicitly stated nine-month window. They should not be combined directly with Aston Martin’s FY wholesale figures as though both were identical measures.
Lotus growth in the first half of 2024
Lotus’s unaudited second-quarter and first-half 2024 financial results provide an earlier view of the same expansion. From January through June 2024, Lotus delivered 4,873 vehicles worldwide: 2,484 sportscars and 2,389 lifestyle SUVs and sedans. In January-June 2023, it delivered 1,439 vehicles worldwide, including 568 sportscars.
Lotus reported sportscar deliveries 337% higher year over year in the first half of 2024 and total deliveries 239% higher. These are the company’s stated comparisons between January-June 2024 and January-June 2023, not forecasts for the remainder of the year.
The first-half regional figures were 1,459 deliveries in Europe, 1,208 in China, 1,278 in North America, and 928 in the rest of the world. Together, the four categories account for the reported 4,873 worldwide deliveries. This makes North America a separately visible part of Lotus’s first-half distribution, even though the later nine-month claims do not provide a matching 2023 North America figure.
| Lotus first-half measure | Jan–Jun 2023 | Jan–Jun 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Worldwide deliveries | 1,439 | 4,873 |
| Sportcar deliveries | 568 | 2,484 |
| Europe in 2024 | — | 1,459 |
| China in 2024 | — | 1,208 |
| North America in 2024 | — | 1,278 |
| Rest of world in 2024 | — | 928 |
The blank cells are intentional: the supplied first-half claims provide 2023 worldwide and sportscar totals, but not 2023 regional values. The period is also shorter than the January-September comparison, so its totals should be read as a separate time window rather than added to the later figures.
The UK’s most important finished-car markets
The Office for National Statistics’ UK trade with the United States article places British vehicle exports in a wider finished-car context. At current prices in 2024, the UK exported £9.0 billion of cars to the United States. The United States represented 27.4% of total UK car exports by value.
The United States was the UK’s largest export partner for finished cars in 2024. The ONS reported that its value was more than two times the value of the second-largest partner, China. This concentration is a value measure for UK car exports as a whole; it is not a separate Aston Martin or Lotus statistic.
The same ONS source reported £0.6 billion of UK exports of road vehicles other than cars to the United States in 2024. That category is distinct from finished cars, so it should not be added to the £9.0 billion car figure when describing car exports.
For British sports-car readers, the US result is a useful market benchmark rather than a claim about any one marque’s sales. It identifies the scale and destination importance of the largest finished-car export relationship, while the manufacturer figures show how individual British brands distribute their own vehicles.
The wider UK automotive export base
The SMMT Motor Industry Facts 2024 release provides a broader industry baseline using 2023 output. UK factories built 905,117 cars in 2023. Eight out of ten cars produced in the UK were exported overseas, and UK-produced cars were exported to more than 140 markets worldwide.
SMMT also reported that UK automotive industry exports generated £47 billion of trade in its 2024 facts release. The release describes 2023 industry output and was published in 2024, so the £47 billion figure should not be read as the value of sports-car exports alone or as a 2024 production total.
These measures show the different scales involved. Aston Martin reported 6,030 wholesale vehicles worldwide for FY 2024, with 4,944 in the Americas, EMEA excluding the UK, and APAC combined. Lotus reported 3,634 sportscar deliveries in the first nine months of 2024, within 7,617 total vehicles worldwide. The SMMT’s industry-wide count of 905,117 UK-built cars in 2023 covers a much broader manufacturing base.
The export share and destination count also add context without changing the manufacturer totals. Eight out of ten UK-built cars were exported overseas in the SMMT’s 2024 facts release, and those cars reached more than 140 markets. The ONS data then shows how strongly the United States stands out by value among finished-car destinations in 2024.
Taken together, the statistics describe a sector with several layers: brand-level wholesale volume, brand-level deliveries, product categories, regional distribution, finished-car export value, and all-industry production. Keeping the source, period, geography, and measurement type attached to each figure is essential when comparing classic British marques with the modern export system around them.