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BMW has informed the BBC the price of any new customs preparations after Brexit would push up the worth of its vehicles.
Ian Robertson, BMW's UK particular consultant, stated new border methods and warehousing would add to the price of making vehicles such because the Mini.
He stated: "It's a potential risk... we would like to avoid."
But he stated BMW would be pressured to put money into new customs methods by late summer time if there was no readability on the UK's trading relationship with the EU.
He informed the BBC's Economics Editor Kamal Ahmed that with out readability BMW would be pressured in August or September to organize for a onerous Brexit and customs delays round a onerous border.
Ian Robertson, BMW's particular consultant within the UK
Mr Robertson stated: "Those dates at the end of the summer are quite real. That's when the contingency plans get applied, and that's when of course we need to see clarity."
But he additionally stated that BMW had no intention of transferring its manufacturing operation outdoors the UK.
"We would have to start to think about how our trucks are going to be managed at the border and how our stocks are going to be stored around our factories," Mr Robertson stated.
"It places a burden on business. It places a burden on us to seek out methods round it, when finally we must be focussed on extra constructive points.
"Our customers have expectations as to the value in their cars. They see innovation and technology as having a value. I can tell you, I have never heard one that says there's a value in customs."
While the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders stated that funding within the UK's automotive business had halved within the final yr due to Brexit uncertainty, some corporations akin to Toyota have continued to put money into the UK.
In a separate interview, Kōji Tsuruoka, Japanese Ambassador to the UK, informed Kamal Ahmed that the UK nonetheless had a sturdy enchantment for Japanese automotive corporations.
He stated: "The UK is an industrialised, very sturdy R&D supported financial system, and there's flexibility in transferring towards the way forward for the business. The referendum end result didn't essentially have an effect on the attraction or the energy of the UK R&D high-tech foundation, and you continue to see Japanese funding coming to these sectors of the UK financial system.
"But when it comes to trade, and market availability, they will have to reconsider, if there is any obstruction for doing trade with a major market to which they export from the UKand the EU market is certainly one of them. They will watch very carefully and very cautiously."
In May, BMW was a part of a group of enterprise leaders together with the heads of BP, Nestle, and Vodafone, who informed Theresa May at a Downing Street assembly that a commerce take care of the EU have to be "as frictionless as with a customs union".
BMW employs eight,000 individuals in its UK manufacturing operation and one other 14,000 in its retailer community.
It manufactures Minis close to Oxford, Mini physique panels in Swindon, Rolls-Royce vehicles at its Goodwood plant and petrol engines at Hams Hall in Warwickshire.