The increases for colour ads are believed to range from 3% for the Sunday Express to 7% for the Daily Express.
Their stablemate, the Daily Star, is said to be demanding increases of 10% or more. MFI, a regular Daily Star advertiser, has also pulled its advertising, and BMW, which experimented with Express titles for the first time last year, has declined ads this year after it was asked for a 10% increase.
Suggestions that MG Rover's action was linked to editorial criticism of the motor group in the Sunday Express were denied by MG Rover head of marketing services Steve Robertson. He said the dispute had been resolved amicably before Christmas.
"The decision to pull our advertising out of Express titles is based purely on commercial reasons," he said.
"The Express' Middle England audience is important, but there are alternatives, and we are likely to put more of our budget into the Daily Mail."
Media buyers said the rate increases for the two Express titles could not be justified by circulation performance. In the past six months, sales fell 2.8% on the previous year.
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