HS Code Detail
870340 Chapter 87 · Vehicles Cars, hybrid petrol and electric, not plug-in
Six-digit subheading in Vehicles, chapter 87 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 6 destination markets.
Anatomy of 870340
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 870340: ten digits in the United States and the United Kingdom, eight in the European Union, and the first six the same everywhere. Which trailing digits apply is what the 6 rates below differ on.
What this code covers
Import duty by country
MFN duty rate · 6 countries| Country | Duty | VAT |
|---|---|---|
| 🇦🇺Australia | 5% | 10% |
| 🇨🇦Canada | 6.1% | 5% |
| 🇩🇪Germany | 10% | 19% |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | 10% | 23% |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | 10% | 20% |
| 🇺🇸United States | 2.5% | 0% |
Rates shown are MFN (Most Favoured Nation), the default for WTO members. Preferential FTA rates may be lower with valid proof of origin. Section 301 / anti-dumping surcharges on Chinese-origin goods are not included.
What that costs: 870340 into Germany
An illustrative consignment of 870340 invoiced at EUR 2,000.00, priced in EUR because a threshold is set in the destination's currency and nothing here is converted.
| Goods value on the invoice | EUR 2,000.00 |
| International freight | EUR 120.00 |
| Cargo insurance | EUR 30.00 |
| Value the duty is charged on, CIF basis | EUR 2,150.00 |
| Duty at 10% | EUR 215.00 |
| Germany tax at 19%, charged on the value plus the duty | EUR 449.35 |
| Total, before commercial charges | EUR 2,814.35 |
And if the consignment were small
Germany relieves nothing: the relief was abolished, so the duty above is charged whatever the consignment is worth. A smaller shipment pays less because the value is lower, not because a threshold spared it.
Selling rather than buying? EUR 2,814.35 is what your buyer in Germany pays to take delivery of this consignment, yours to pay if you quote DDP and theirs if you quote DAP: Exporting to Germany sets out who collects it and what your invoice has to say.
An illustration, not a quotation: broker fees, handling and any trade remedy on the origin sit outside it. Price 870340 on your own numbers in the duty calculator.
How these rates were verified
Rates last verified 7 September 2026Every figure in the table above was read from the official tariff database of the market that charges it, on the date shown. Nothing here is copied from another aggregator.
- 🇺🇸US
- HTS General for 870340 US, read on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=8703.40 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/reststop/exportList?from=87&to=88&format=CSV&styles=false. Both returned 2.5%. The United States International Trade Commission is the only body that publishes this schedule. The second reading was taken in a different format to check the reading, not to corroborate the schedule, because there is no second schedule to corroborate it against. Retrieved text: 8703.40.00 2.5%
- 🇬🇧GB
- Third country duty for 870340 GB, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/8703401010 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reference-document-for-the-customs-tariff-establishment-eu-exit-regulations-2020. Both returned 10%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 8703401010 10.00 %; 8703401090 10.00 %; 8703409010 10.00 %; 8703409090 10.00 %
- 🇨🇦CA
- MFN for 870340 CA, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/html/00/ch87-eng.html and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2026/menu-eng.html. Both returned 6.1%. The Canada Border Services Agency is the only body that publishes this schedule. The Department of Justice publishes the Act and refers readers to the Agency for the schedule itself, so both readings are the Agency's, taken from two different products. Retrieved text: 8703.40.10 6.1%; 8703.40.90 6.1%
- 🇦🇺AU
- MFN for 870340 AU, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.abf.gov.au/importing-exporting-and-manufacturing/tariff-classification/current-tariff/schedule-3/section-xvii/chapter-87 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04997/latest/text. Both returned 5%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 8703.40.11 5% CA:Free; 8703.40.19 5% CA:Free; 8703.40.20 5% CA:Free; 8703.40.90 5% DCS:4% CA:Free DCT:5%
- 🇩🇪DE 🇵🇹PT
- One reading covers DE and PT, which are priced from the same schedule: Third country duty (EU, via NI Online Tariff) for 870340 DE, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/8703401010 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=870340&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned 10%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 8703401010 10.00 %; 8703401090 10.00 %; 8703409010 10.00 %; 8703409090 10.00 %
Re-check first: This code is for hybrids that cannot be charged from an external source; a plug-in hybrid is 870360. The United States general rate recorded on the two is the same, but the codes are not interchangeable and other vehicle measures are not in this table.
What falls under 870340
- Motor cars with both a spark ignition internal combustion piston engine and an electric motor, other than those capable of being charged from an external source
- Conventional and full hybrid petrol electric passenger cars
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
Commonly confused with
870360: Plug in hybrids
External charging capability is the entire distinction. A vehicle whose battery is replenished only by the engine and by regenerative braking is here; one with a charging port that can take power from the grid is 8703.60, and the two are otherwise described identically.
870380: Battery electric cars
A hybrid retains a combustion engine, so it never reaches the battery electric subheading. Range extender vehicles, where a small engine generates electricity without driving the wheels, are the genuinely argued case and have been decided both ways in different jurisdictions.
Classification & cost note
The 2022 nomenclature restructured heading 8703 around powertrain, and the subheading that results here covers hybrids that cannot be plugged in. The test is capability rather than usage: a vehicle with an external charging inlet belongs in the plug in subheading whether or not its owner ever uses it. Two cases remain genuinely difficult. Mild hybrid systems with a small belt driven starter generator raise the question of whether the electric machine propels the vehicle or merely assists the engine and its ancillaries, and the answer determines whether the car leaves the petrol subheadings at all. Range extenders raise the opposite question. Because many markets attach tax incentives, registration benefits and emissions based charges to powertrain type, the classification here often carries consequences well beyond the duty rate, and those consequences are administered by authorities other than customs.
Typical products: Full hybrid petrol electric saloons and hatchbacks · Hybrid sport utility vehicles without a charging port · Self charging hybrid estates · Mild and full hybrids where the electric motor contributes propulsion
What the notes to section XVII say
Chapter 87 sits in section XVII, vehicles, aircraft, vessels and associated transport equipment, where a section note governs every chapter in the section and applies before the heading notes below; the 5 reaching chapter 87 name no heading this site holds a code under, and they are quoted whole on the chapter 87 page, read from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/sections/17 on 2026-09-08.
What the nomenclature says about heading 8703
870340 is a subheading of 8703, motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons (other than those of heading 8702), including station wagons and racing cars , and this site holds 5 other codes under the same heading, which every rule below governs equally.
One numbered note to chapter 87 takes heading 8703 as its own subject, and it is quoted below in full, as published.
Note 3 to chapter 87
Motor chassis fitted with cabs fall in heading 8702 to 8704, and not in heading 8706.
Read from the notes to chapter 87 published in the UK Trade Tariff by HM Revenue and Customs, at https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/chapters/87, with the heading title from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/api/v2/headings/8703, on 2026-09-07, with the whole layer and the reason a heading note is a chapter note set out on the chapter 87 page. These notes are part of the international text of the Harmonized System, so the rule is the same whichever destination a shipment is going to, and it decides classification and never a rate.
Questions about 870340
What separates a hybrid from a plug in hybrid?
Whether the vehicle can be charged from an external power source. A car whose battery is replenished only by the engine and regenerative braking sits in 8703.40; one with a charging inlet capable of taking grid power sits in 8703.60.
Is a mild hybrid classified as a hybrid?
It depends on whether the electric machine contributes to propulsion. Where it only assists the engine and drives ancillaries, the vehicle can remain in the conventional petrol subheadings, and this is one of the most argued points in the heading.
Related codes in Chapter 87
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