There is a truck of questions on the effect that the prices of the Trump administration will have on the automotive industry, but for the moment, business is high in the spotlight GMC in National City.
“I think that many people are really uncertain about what is happening, but we have certainly seen a great increase in business, especially on the car side,” said Director General Guarantor Godfrey, who estimates that pedestrian traffic is up around 20% last week. “Customers are concerned about the increase in prices, parts are increasing.”
And some decided that it was better to buy now, rather than later.
President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that a 25% rate will be deducted from all light cars and trucks imported into the United States, the move came into force the next day.
In addition, as of May 3, a right of 25% will be billed on automotive parts imported into the United States, including motors, transmissions, powertrain, electrical components and even elements such as brake pipes.
Godfrey said his dealer had increased the prices of the stickers on any of the vehicles on his lot.
“Our principal is to always try to be 100% transparent with everyone,” he said. “The last thing that customers want to do is come to a dealership and not know what to expect.”
Ivan Drury, director of Auto Insights for Edmunds.com, plans that prices in exhibition halls will begin to increase in about a month. But he will not add warnings, saying that nobody knows how things will get rid of.
“It depends strongly on the automaker,” said Drury.
Some stored enough supply before the price announcement and deployed incentives to potential buyers. For example, Ford said Thursday that it offered employees prices on its vehicles to all consumers.
These car manufacturers have “a bit of an excess inventory so that they can afford to reduce vehicles at the moment,” said Drury, “and technically, they could buy market share against a car manufacturer” with fewer cars and trucks for sale.
It is also difficult to determine how much the parts of parts will result in specific vehicles because some components are built outside the United States, for example, Drury said that the 3.5-liter engine of the popular Ford F-150 van is manufactured in Mexico.
“So this will vary madly from one car manufacturer to another, a dealer to the next one, whatever the region in which you live and the model you look at,” he said.
According to an analysis of Edmunds of 12 large car manufacturers for 2025, the percentage of vehicles assembled in the United States varies from 20.6% for Mazda to 78% for Ford.
And while Tesla can assemble all its vehicles in the United States, it supplies 20% to 25% of its Mexico parts, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In addition to that, there is always the possibility that things can change with a pen-maybe the size or prices are changed, or the Trump administration concludes an agreement with one of the respective countries affected by tasks, or potential agreements are concluded with the manufacturers themselves.
“I cannot imagine that we are not going to see some car manufacturers lobbying for an exemption if they promise to build a factory of parts, potentially a new mounting chain, or to bring a dead line and to say:” We will renovate, but it will take a year or two to install. Can you give us a break here? “,” Said Drury. “We know that negotiation is something (the Trump administration) likes to speak, so negotiate.”
All uncertainty has caused disastrous predictions in certain environments.
The day Trump made his announcement in Rose Garden, Daniel Ives, investment analyst for Wedbush Securities, sent a note with the title claiming that the automotive industry “has just been struck by a pricing torpedo”.
If the tasks remain in place, Ives predicted that the demand for new car purchases would erode 15% to 20% this year.
“Prices are a debacle of epic proportions for the automotive industry and American consumers, because the concept of a car manufactured in the United States with all American parties is a fictitious story of fairy tales,” wrote Ives. “The more we talk about people from the automotive industry from around the world, it becomes clear that this pricing / American policy will cause pure chaos to the world automotive industry and increase the prices of a typical car to an American consumer of $ 5,000 to $ 10,000 from the doors.”
Drury is more circumspect.
“It is too early to say,” he said. “Right now, there is still a lot of flexibility for some (car manufacturers) because they have something like a supply of two months of vehicles in early April. The clock is checked, of course … it will still take a little time for all this to really materialize.”
At Honor GMC in National City, Godfrey is ready to conclude agreements.
“It is now the best time to buy a vehicle, just because a vehicle can cost $ 3,000 or $ 4,000 more in 90 days,” he said. “No one knows.”
The prices are presented over a flat year for sales in California.
Total registrations for 2024 fell 0.3% compared to 2023, according to the California New Car Dealers Association.
California Daily Newspapers
