Import/export HS code 8511: Electrical ignition and starting equipment for engines

Parts like spark plugs, ignition coils, and starter motors used in car or machinery engines

Why this is important if you are looking for potential customers in the UK:

  • It helps you understand the market size for your product in the UK.
  • It provides you with a list of potential leads who have bought similar products.

* UK only, last 24 months analysed

Imports by country

What this shows: Import market volume by exporter country into the UK.

Top 5 values

Country £
United States 263,777,274
Germany 157,205,885
China 145,714,982
France 99,390,186
Japan 78,649,641

Countries rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month volume, right side by second 12-month volume, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Country First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
United States 144,570,161 119,207,113 -25,363,048
Germany 80,940,740 76,265,145 -4,675,595
China 86,378,525 59,336,457 -27,042,068
France 61,267,445 38,122,741 -23,144,704
Japan 42,817,978 35,831,663 -6,986,315
Poland 26,699,854 22,995,951 -3,703,903
Belgium 23,936,186 24,005,233 +69,047
Turkey 21,694,785 24,694,729 +2,999,944
Netherlands 19,679,128 17,388,323 -2,290,805
Slovenia 15,704,362 17,564,342 +1,859,980

Imports by country of origin

What this shows: Import volume by production origin country. Differences from exporter-country data can indicate re-export routes.

Top 5 values

Origin £
United States 315,333,357
China 185,849,094
Japan 146,867,132
France 95,615,562
Turkey 51,095,694

Country of origin rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Origin countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month import value, right side by second 12-month import value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Origin First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
United States 170,060,798 145,272,559 -24,788,239
China 106,209,740 79,639,354 -26,570,386
Japan 78,591,541 68,275,591 -10,315,950
France 57,508,167 38,107,395 -19,400,772
Turkey 23,607,685 27,488,009 +3,880,324
Germany 25,371,530 21,521,843 -3,849,687
Slovenia 20,210,046 18,342,505 -1,867,541
India 16,117,954 17,118,916 +1,000,962
Poland 17,738,435 13,468,630 -4,269,805
Hungary 11,152,335 12,674,762 +1,522,427

Importers across UK regions

What this shows: Number of importing companies by UK ITL2 region.

Top 5 values

UK region Companies
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 96
West Midlands 73
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 65
Surrey, East and West Sussex 65
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 64

UK regions rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: UK regions are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month importer count, right side by second 12-month importer count, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

UK region First 12m Second 12m Delta
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire 66 72 +6
West Midlands 54 54 +0
Hampshire and Isle of Wight 49 42 -7
Surrey, East and West Sussex 51 49 -2
Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire 52 49 -3
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire 41 43 +2
Inner London - West 37 46 +9
Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire 42 45 +3
Essex 39 31 -8
Greater Manchester 32 31 -1

Import volume by transport

What this shows: Import value by transport mode used to bring goods into the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Air transport 448,109,501
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 283,157,205
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 255,238,790
Other 113,668,265
Road transport 13,131,011

Transport rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Transport modes are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month import value, right side by second 12-month import value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Transport First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Air transport 240,326,585 207,782,916 -32,543,669
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 145,850,527 137,306,678 -8,543,849
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 127,966,803 127,271,987 -694,816
Other 75,546,430 38,121,835 -37,424,595
Road transport 12,502,763 628,248 -11,874,515
Rail transport 6,746,884 3,492,277 -3,254,607

Import volume by port

What this shows: Import value handled by each UK port.

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 270,731,498
000 113,668,265
Southampton 101,521,377
Felixstowe 84,207,491
Dover 79,323,931

Port rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Ports are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month import value, right side by second 12-month import value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Port First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
London Heathrow Airport 149,904,416 120,827,082 -29,077,334
000 75,546,430 38,121,835 -37,424,595
Southampton 60,356,896 41,164,481 -19,192,415
Felixstowe 47,359,391 36,848,100 -10,511,291
Dover 36,674,493 42,649,438 +5,974,945
Birmingham Airport 34,761,497 30,403,750 -4,357,747
Eurotunnel 28,455,153 29,928,444 +1,473,291
Harwich 27,456,101 24,367,864 -3,088,237
East Midlands Airport 25,713,377 21,601,199 -4,112,178
499 12,516,903 29,113,496 +16,596,593

Importer companies by SIC division

What this shows: Industry breakdown (SIC divisions) of importing companies.

Top 5 values

SIC Companies
Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles 282
Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles 200
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment 96
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. 72
Office administrative, office support and other business support activities 67

Importer companies over time

What this shows: Monthly count of unique importing companies.

Latest 5

Month Companies
2026-01 298
2025-11 319
2025-10 335
2025-09 307
2025-08 293

Top importers

What this shows: Companies with the highest number of months traded for this HS code.

Importer company size by revenue band

What this shows: Distribution of importers across company revenue bands.

Top 5 values

Revenue Companies
1m-15m 486
54m+ 392
0-1m 136
15m-54m 124
Other 97

Import seasonality

What this shows: Average monthly import pattern from historical data.

Exports by country

What this shows: Export market volume by destination country from the UK.

Top 5 values

Country £
United States 122,805,019
France 57,180,798
Germany 52,054,055
Netherlands 43,811,479
United Arab Emirates 43,344,437

Export countries rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Destination countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export volume, right side by second 12-month export volume, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Country First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
United States 66,936,611 55,868,408 -11,068,203
France 32,837,988 24,342,810 -8,495,178
Germany 25,235,312 26,818,743 +1,583,431
Netherlands 22,510,056 21,301,423 -1,208,633
United Arab Emirates 20,551,731 22,792,706 +2,240,975
India 22,930,496 12,379,510 -10,550,986
Poland 10,430,339 11,808,790 +1,378,451
Belgium 9,530,190 7,536,240 -1,993,950
Singapore 6,910,530 9,314,337 +2,403,807
China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 6,934,148 8,652,670 +1,718,522

Exports by country of origin

What this shows: Export volume by production origin country. For re-exports, indicates where goods originated before UK export.

Top 5 values

Origin £
China 135,858
XI 125,169
Japan 89,137
Germany 67,619
Poland 49,120

Export origin countries rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Origin countries are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export value, right side by second 12-month export value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Origin First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
China 92,650 43,208 -49,442
XI 78,190 46,979 -31,211
Japan 49,506 39,631 -9,875
Germany 39,349 28,270 -11,079
Poland 23,674 25,446 +1,772
Taiwan 7,546 33,185 +25,639
France 6,369 5,579 -790
Thailand 4,776 2,617 -2,159
Italy 3,529 2,709 -820
Slovenia 3,586 2,354 -1,232

Export volume by transport

What this shows: Export value by transport mode used to ship goods from the UK.

Top 5 values

Transport £
Air transport 355,547,386
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 170,923,723
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 82,461,504
Other 726,562
Road transport 623,228

Export transport rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Transport modes are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export value, right side by second 12-month export value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Transport First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
Air transport 185,182,063 170,365,323 -14,816,740
Roll on Roll off (RORO) 90,205,608 80,718,115 -9,487,493
Sea transport (not vehicle on ferry) 43,762,539 38,698,965 -5,063,574
Other 407,138 319,424 -87,714
Road transport 607,242 15,986 -591,256
Rail transport 925 0 -925

Export volume by port

What this shows: Export value handled by each UK port.

Top 5 values

Port £
London Heathrow Airport 267,023,011
Dover / Eurotunnel 146,384,068
East Midlands Airport 34,551,879
London Stansted Airport 27,213,935
Immingham Docks 23,956,081

Export port rank shift: first 12 months vs second 12 months

What this shows: Ports are on both sides of the Sankey. Left side is sorted by first 12-month export value, right side by second 12-month export value, so rank changes are visible from line crossings.

Top 10 values

Port First 12m £ Second 12m £ Delta £
London Heathrow Airport 140,571,579 126,451,432 -14,120,147
Dover / Eurotunnel 77,550,857 68,833,211 -8,717,646
East Midlands Airport 18,794,722 15,757,157 -3,037,565
London Stansted Airport 13,248,988 13,964,947 +715,959
Immingham Docks 12,626,852 11,329,229 -1,297,623
Southampton 8,417,984 14,575,016 +6,157,032
London Gateway Port 11,635,018 9,454,543 -2,180,475
ZLC 9,940,047 8,265,759 -1,674,288
Felixstowe 8,282,149 3,089,891 -5,192,258
Holyhead 3,448,844 2,953,426 -495,418

Related HS codes

What this shows: Sibling or child HS codes in the same classification branch.

Quick facts

HS code: 8511

Coverage: United Kingdom, most metrics for the last 24 months

Description: Parts like spark plugs, ignition coils, and starter motors used in car or machinery engines