You might have a bit of a longer wait for a Rolls-Royce car at the moment if you are an American customer. The luxury carmaker, which prices in dollars, is reorganising its production and curbing some exports to the United States in the face of the weak dollar.

The US is Rolls-Royce’s biggest market by far, accounting for 40 per cent of its business compared with 15 per cent for Britain, which has second place.

The weak dollar is hurting Rolls-Royce, it admits, although the impact is partly offset by hedging from its parent, BMW.

That hedging, though, got the German carmaker into trouble with investors this week when it ended up taking a charge of more than €130 million (£91 million) on financial instruments. The company pledged to implement better hedging devices.

BMW is one of the few Western carmakers to have indigenous production in the US, with its factory in Spartanburg in South Carolina, which makes a range of BMW-badged vehicles.

So it is able to counter comparatively low prices by having its costs similarly priced, except that it sources some of its components from Europe, a practice that is being reviewed with a view to finding materials more locally.

The dilemma of Rolls-Royce and its parent illustrates the difficulties for manufacturers posed by the dollar exchange rate. The US is a crucial market but it is now an increasingly tough one.

And with many automotive components makers and engineering businesses selling into the US carmaking market, the ripple effects across the pond are significant in the auto industry.

Aerospace is equally, if not more, vulnerable, with the US forming such a large part of the defence and civil market.

This week EADS, the European aerospace and defence group, said it would accelerate its restructuring programme to help to combat the effects of the slump in the dollar.

The company dropped its forecasts of an operating profit for this year, aiming instead for a more modest breakeven. It is not just the dollar that is affecting EADS, of course, as it struggles with delivery delays at its Airbus aircraft operation.

But EADS faces a mammoth task in trying to be competitive with Boeing, which is now, in common with other US manufacturing, feeling a boost from the weak dollar. For manufacturers based in the United Kingdom, the options for combating the weak dollar are few. They can trim costs to improve their competitiveness, although most would feel they were already focused firmly on that as they attempt to compete against producers from lower-cost countries.

They are also being forced to make efficiencies as they contend with spiralling commodity prices and the record price of oil.

The EEF manufacturers group believes that companies must diversify their purchasing and not rely on a centralised system that is less able to respond to currency fluctuations.

This, however, can be more easily said than done for parts of the manufacturing industry that need to liaise closely with suppliers over the development of parts and can sometimes spend years in collaboration.

There are also some gains to be had from buying in quantity from one supplier if you are an international manufacturer.

The EEF also thinks that if the dollar remains weak, more UK manufacturers may buy American companies in an effort to secure lower costs. And the cost of those companies will be relatively attractive while the dollar remains in the doldrums.

That works on the ground in terms of production costs, it will not shield a UK-based business from the impact on its bottom line when its profits in America are translated back into sterling.

However, although the dollar-pound exchange rate is a big concern for many parts of manufacturing, it is not a grave worry across the board. The US accounts for 15 per cent of manufacturing exports and many engineering businesses are enjoying significant growth in the expanding markets of Asia and the Middle East.

Concern over the American market goes beyond the current exchange rate to what is in store in the American economy.

Jeegar Kakkad, a senior economist with the EEF, says: “More worrying than the dollar is where the American economy is going in the medium to long term – whether there will be a downturn or a recession. If there is a significant softening in demand from the US, that could hit some manufacturers hard.”

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