Sending a Message? BMW Group Warns UK Staff of Brexit Risks

British auto workers at Rolls-Royce and Mini have received an email from their company's German parent carmaker BMW, expressing concerns about the possibility of United Kingdom voting in favor of leaving the European Union.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — UK nationals are set to vote on June 23 in a referendum on the country's EU membership, after Prime Minister David Cameron and his 27 European colleagues reached an agreement last month to grant the United Kingdom a special status within the bloc.

"The BMW Group believes that the UK is better as a member of the EU than it would be outside it. <…> Tariff barriers would mean higher costs and higher prices and we cannot assume that the UK would be granted free trade with Europe from outside the EU," the letter, published the BBC news outlet, reads.

According to the letter, a so-called Brexit could affect UK businesses and the country's employment base.

BMW also said that later this week an open letter supporting the campaign to stay in the European Union would be circulated.

The letter has been signed by some 200 business leaders, including Ian Robertson, the head of sales and marketing for BMW Group and the chairman of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of BMW.