HS Code Detail
870360 Chapter 87 · Vehicles Cars, plug-in hybrid petrol and electric
Six-digit subheading in Vehicles, chapter 87 of the Harmonized System, priced here for 5 destination markets.
Anatomy of 870360
You will declare against a longer local code that begins 870360: 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 5 rates below differ on.
What this code covers
Import duty by country
MFN duty rate · 5 countries| Country | Duty | VAT |
|---|---|---|
| 🇨🇦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: 870360 into Germany
An illustrative consignment of 870360 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 870360 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 870360 US, read on 2026-09-07 from https://hts.usitc.gov/search?query=8703.60 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: 8703.60.00 2.5%
- 🇬🇧GB
- Third country duty for 870360 GB, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/commodities/8703601010 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: 8703601010 10.00 %; 8703601090 10.00 %; 8703609010 10.00 %; 8703609090 10.00 %
- 🇨🇦CA
- MFN for 870360 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: 8703.60.10 6.1%; 8703.60.90 6.1%
- 🇩🇪DE 🇵🇹PT
- One reading covers DE and PT, which are priced from the same schedule: Third country duty (EU, via NI Online Tariff) for 870360 DE, read on 2026-09-07 from https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/xi/commodities/8703601010 and again on 2026-09-07 from https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/results?product=870360&origin=CN&destination=DE. Both returned 10%. The two publications are independent of each other and they agree. Retrieved text: 8703601010 10.00 %; 8703601090 10.00 %; 8703609010 10.00 %; 8703609090 10.00 %
Markets with no figure recorded
Australia: Australia splits 8703.60 into 5 tariff lines and they do not carry the same rate: the schedule returned 0 to 5%. A single percentage cannot represent that honestly, so no Australia figure is recorded and the calculator falls back to its disclosed category average.
Re-check first: Being chargeable from an external source is the distinction from 870340, and the United States general rate recorded on the two happens to be the same. A battery electric vehicle with no engine at all is 870380, which carries measures of its own.
What falls under 870360
- Motor cars with both a spark ignition engine and an electric motor, capable of being charged by plugging to an external source of electric power
- Plug in hybrid petrol electric passenger cars
What's specifically excluded
These look similar but belong under a different code:
Commonly confused with
870340: Non plug in hybrids
These two subheadings describe the same architecture and differ only on whether the battery can be charged externally. Because manufacturers offer both versions of a model, the specification of the individual vehicle rather than the model name has to drive the classification.
870380: Battery electric vehicles
A plug in hybrid has a combustion engine and a battery electric car does not. The charging port is common to both, so the presence of a plug says nothing on its own, which is a frequent source of confusion on import paperwork.
Classification & cost note
Plug in hybrids were given their own subheading in the 2022 edition, and the definition rests on capability rather than behaviour: the vehicle must be capable of being charged by plugging into an external source. That is a specification fact, verifiable from the certificate of conformity, and it does not depend on how the vehicle is used. The classification matters beyond duty in most markets, because plug in hybrids sit at the centre of emissions based taxation, company car benefit rules and access restrictions in urban zones, all of which key off declared electric only range and carbon dioxide figures rather than the tariff code. Where these vehicles are imported second hand, the battery state of health is a valuation factor in practice even though it appears in no rule, and it deserves documenting alongside mileage and condition.
Typical products: Plug in hybrid sport utility vehicles · Plug in hybrid executive saloons · Petrol electric models with an external charging inlet · Plug in hybrids with a declared electric only range
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
870360 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 870360
Does the presence of a charging port make a car a plug in hybrid?
Only if the vehicle also has a combustion engine. A battery electric car has a charging port too, so the port alone does not decide the subheading. The combination of engine and external charging is what defines a plug in hybrid.
Does electric only range affect the code?
No. Range is not part of the tariff definition, which turns solely on external charging capability. Range figures matter greatly for emissions taxation and urban access rules, but those are administered outside customs.
Is a range extender vehicle a plug in hybrid?
It is argued, and it has been decided differently in different jurisdictions. A range extender carries a small engine that generates electricity without driving the wheels, so it can be read either as a hybrid or as a battery electric car with an onboard generator. Where the point matters, a binding ruling is worth obtaining before the first shipment.
Related codes in Chapter 87
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