We have a range of bike racks that fit a US style 2" hitch, rather than a European tow ball.
Yakima FullSwing hitch receiver bike rack (4 bikes) YK8002465
Yakima HangOver hitch receiver bike rack (4 bikes) 8002484
Yakima HoldUp EVO hitch receiver bike rack (2 bikes) 8002479
Yakima StageTwo hitch receiver 2 bike rack, black, 8002725
These racks only fits US style 2" hitch receivers (often defined as Class III or Class IV) 2" hitch receivers can only be fitted to category N1 vehicles, usually only pickups, some large 4x4s and medium and large vans. You can't use this size of hitch receiver on category M1 vehicles, which incudes normal cars and SUVs. You can check your vehicle classification on the DVLA website.
Which vehicles can use a hitch receiver towing system?
Hitch receivers are box section tubes into which a towing accessory or bike rack is inserted, held in place with a pin or bolt. The lighter-duty hitch receivers are made from 1.25" box section, the heavy-duty ones from 2" box section. Hitch receivers are the USA and e.g. Australia standard, but are rare in the EU and UK.
Generally, only large vehicles have tow bars that can take the weight of the bike carriers that are available for 2" hitch receivers - these are large 4x4s, pickup trucks, and medium and large vans.
The background here is that since 1998 tow bars for cars (UK and EU Vehicle type approval class M vehicles) have to be Type Approved to an EU standard; people are not allowed to weld up homemade, untested tow bars - this is a sensible safety rule!
We have so far not found a manufacturer who is making Type Approved hitch receivers for class M vehicles. The vehicles which are large enough to use 2" hitch receivers for any purpose, usually towing, are usually in Vehicle type approval class N1 ('Vehicles for the carriage of goods and having a maximum mass not exceeding 3.5 tonnes') - you can find information about a vehicle's registration class on the gov.uk website, search for e.g. Get vehicle information from DVLA.
The UK's premier tow bar manufacturers are starting to produce hitch receivers for specified class N1 vehicles; it also seems that e.g. the 2023 Ford Rangers and 2023 VW Amarok (both in class N1) are being supplied as standard with 2" hitch receivers.
At the moment we have seen no documentary evidence to show that tow bars for class N1 need to be Type Approved; we will update this page as soon as we have new information to share.