The United Kingdom’s published trade statistics do not provide one series limited to classic cars, British marques, and vehicle exports. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) car series is therefore a UK car-export benchmark, not a classic-only total. It is reported in current prices on a seasonally adjusted balance-of-payments basis. SMMT figures add broader context on automotive manufacturing, exports, employment, and destinations.
Contents
- How to read the benchmark
- UK car exports from 1997 to 2005
- UK car exports from 2006 to 2014
- UK car exports from 2015 to 2025
- The pandemic-era quarterly pattern
- Monthly UK car exports in 2025
- Scale, destinations, and industry context
How to read the benchmark
The ONS measure covers UK car exports worldwide and records values in millions of pounds. “Seasonally adjusted” means the published series is designed for comparison across periods with recurring seasonal patterns. “Balance of payments” identifies the statistical framework; it does not mean the numbers describe a specific collection of classic vehicles.
That distinction matters for owners, clubs, restorers, and researchers interested in classic British cars. The figures below show the scale and movement of the UK car-export market, while the SMMT material describes the wider automotive industry. Neither source supplies a standalone count or value for exported classic British cars. HMRC’s public commodity framework also separates collectors’ pieces and antiques, but those headings include many non-vehicle goods and cannot be treated as a classic-car total.
The principal long-run source is the ONS Trade in Goods: Cars (78M): WW: Exports: BOP: CP: SA series. The industry context comes from SMMT Motor Industry Facts 2024 and the SMMT UK Automotive Trade Snapshot 2024. The US-specific figures come from the ONS UK trade with the United States 2024 report.
UK car exports from 1997 to 2005
The first part of the ONS benchmark shows annual UK car-export values moving from below £9 billion to above £13 billion. The observations are current-price, seasonally adjusted balance-of-payments values.
| Year | UK car exports |
|---|---|
| 1997 | £8,936 million |
| 1998 | £8,844 million |
| 1999 | £9,784 million |
| 2000 | £9,375 million |
| 2001 | £8,257 million |
| 2002 | £10,466 million |
| 2003 | £10,518 million |
| 2004 | £11,506 million |
| 2005 | £13,250 million |
The ONS annual observations show a relatively uneven opening period. Exports were £8,936 million in 1997 and £8,844 million in 1998, before reaching £9,784 million in 1999. The value then stood at £9,375 million in 2000 and £8,257 million in 2001.
The series rose above £10 billion in 2002, at £10,466 million, followed by £10,518 million in 2003. It reached £11,506 million in 2004 and £13,250 million in 2005. These figures describe the UK car-export market as a whole; they should not be read as a valuation of surviving historic cars, restored vehicles, or any particular British marque.
UK car exports from 2006 to 2014
The next nine annual observations show a higher export-value range, although the period includes a pronounced fall in 2009.
| Year | UK car exports |
|---|---|
| 2006 | £12,886 million |
| 2007 | £14,519 million |
| 2008 | £15,489 million |
| 2009 | £11,923 million |
| 2010 | £17,055 million |
| 2011 | £19,998 million |
| 2012 | £21,100 million |
| 2013 | £23,623 million |
| 2014 | £24,865 million |
According to the same ONS series, UK car exports were £12,886 million in 2006, £14,519 million in 2007, and £15,489 million in 2008. The 2009 value was £11,923 million. The benchmark then recorded £17,055 million in 2010, £19,998 million in 2011, and £21,100 million in 2012.
The later observations were £23,623 million in 2013 and £24,865 million in 2014. For classic-car readers, this period is useful as a broad market baseline: it shows how much the value of all UK car exports can vary between adjacent years, without establishing a separate trend for older vehicles.
UK car exports from 2015 to 2025
The 2015–2025 annual sequence includes a pre-pandemic high, a 2020 decline, a partial recovery, and another high in 2023.
| Year | UK car exports |
|---|---|
| 2015 | £25,764 million |
| 2016 | £30,673 million |
| 2017 | £33,361 million |
| 2018 | £33,049 million |
| 2019 | £32,975 million |
| 2020 | £24,004 million |
| 2021 | £27,367 million |
| 2022 | £29,023 million |
| 2023 | £37,250 million |
| 2024 | £35,712 million |
| 2025 | £29,258 million |
The ONS data put exports at £25,764 million in 2015, £30,673 million in 2016, and £33,361 million in 2017. The values were £33,049 million in 2018 and £32,975 million in 2019. The 2020 figure was £24,004 million, followed by £27,367 million in 2021 and £29,023 million in 2022.
Exports reached £37,250 million in 2023, then measured £35,712 million in 2024 and £29,258 million in 2025. These are annual observations, not forecasts. The 2025 number is retained as the period supplied by the ONS series and is not relabeled as a 2026 figure.
The pandemic-era quarterly pattern
Annual data conceal the sharp movement within 2020. The quarterly ONS benchmark provides a more detailed view.
| Quarter | UK car exports |
|---|---|
| 2020 Q1 | £7,554 million |
| 2020 Q2 | £2,113 million |
| 2020 Q3 | £6,659 million |
| 2020 Q4 | £7,678 million |
| 2021 Q1 | £8,149 million |
| 2021 Q2 | £6,980 million |
The ONS quarterly observations were £7,554 million in 2020 Q1 and £2,113 million in 2020 Q2. The value increased to £6,659 million in 2020 Q3 and £7,678 million in 2020 Q4. The first two reported quarters of 2021 were £8,149 million and £6,980 million.
This sequence demonstrates why the time unit should accompany any export statistic. A yearly figure can describe the total for 2020, but it does not show the very low second quarter or the later quarterly rebound. It also remains a benchmark for all UK car exports rather than a direct measure of classic-car shipments.
Monthly UK car exports in 2025
The ONS series gives monthly detail for January through June 2025. All six values are seasonally adjusted and measured on the balance-of-payments basis.
| Month | UK car exports |
|---|---|
| January 2025 | £2,723 million |
| February 2025 | £2,587 million |
| March 2025 | £3,368 million |
| April 2025 | £2,581 million |
| May 2025 | £2,461 million |
| June 2025 | £2,240 million |
The ONS monthly series records £2,723 million in January, £2,587 million in February, and £3,368 million in March 2025. The following observations were £2,581 million in April, £2,461 million in May, and £2,240 million in June.
The monthly data are useful when a reader needs a current-period reference point rather than an annual average. They cover January to June only in the supplied observations, so they do not establish a full-year 2025 monthly profile or a forecast for the remainder of the year.
Scale, destinations, and industry context
SMMT’s broader measures show how export-oriented the UK automotive industry is. The UK Automotive Trade Snapshot 2024 reports £47 billion of automotive exports in 2023, within £115 billion of total automotive trade. It also reports £68 billion of imports in 2023. These totals concern the automotive industry, not classic British cars alone.
The SMMT Motor Industry Facts 2024 reports £93 billion of automotive-related manufacturing turnover and £22 billion of value added in 2024. The wider UK automotive industry employed about 813,000 people in 2024 and typically invested around £4 billion a year in research and development. These measures help describe industrial scale, but they do not identify the portion associated with historic vehicles.
Production and destination figures provide another perspective:
- More than 905,117 cars were built in the UK in 2023, and eight out of ten cars produced were exported overseas, according to SMMT Motor Industry Facts 2024.
- Automotive products represented 13.9% of Britain’s manufactured exports in the first half of 2024, according to the SMMT trade snapshot.
- In 2024, 78.9% of all vehicles made in Britain were exported, including 603,565 cars, 1,032,534 engines, and 82,097 commercial vehicles made for export, according to SMMT Motor Industry Facts 2024.
- The EU accounted for 54% of UK-built vehicle exports in 2024, while the United States accounted for 16.9%, according to the same SMMT source.
The SMMT trade snapshot adds that premium UK-made electrified vehicles were worth roughly 1.5 times ICE models in its 2024 comparison. That is a comparison of vehicle types in the modern automotive trade, not a price comparison for classic cars.
The United States is also prominent in the ONS country-specific figures. The ONS UK trade with the United States report records £9.0 billion of UK car exports to the United States in 2024, representing 27.4% of total UK car exports. The UK also exported £0.6 billion of road vehicles other than cars to the United States in 2024.
Together, these figures show a large and geographically distributed UK automotive export system. They do not reveal how many classic British cars crossed borders, which marques were involved, or whether a shipment consisted of restored, unrestored, or modern vehicles. Those questions require a dedicated classic-car dataset rather than inference from the broader ONS and SMMT benchmarks.