Last month, the automotive industry witnessed a different type of Madness March when the buyers threw themselves into retailers to lock shops than President Trump’s automobile tariffs to raise prices by thousands of dollars, several car manufacturers said.
“This last weekend was by far the best weekend, which I have seen in a very long time,” said Randy Parker, CEO of Hyundai Motor North America on Tuesday. On Monday on Monday, the company showed an increase of 13 percent on Monday compared to the previous year.
The Ford Motor said on Monday his sales in March in stores increased by 19 percent. However, the sale of Ford during the total quarter slipped by 1 percent to approximately 500,000 vehicles due to a decline in sales to customers fleets, the company said.
General Motors did not provide separate value for March, but said that sales in the first quarter increased by 17 percent of the previous year to 693,000 vehicles.
Mr. Trump said last week to store 25 percent of tariffs on imported vehicles, effective on Thursday. The tariffs will be extended to imported automatic parts on May 3. Many cars made in American factories contain parts produced abroad and often exceed 50 percent of the value of the vehicle. Analysts estimate that car manufacturers will have to raise some models by more than $ 10,000 to compensate for new doses.
GM, Ford and Hyundai showed an increase in sales of electric vehicles and hybrids. GM said its sale of vehicles driven only by batteries has almost doubled, to 32,000 cars, because the electric version of the Equinox Sport Utility was widely available. With an initial price of about $ 35,000, Equinox is one of the most affordable electric vehicles available in the United States.
Ford said that the sale of hybrid vehicles increased by 33 percent and that the sale of electric vehicles like Mustang Mach-E increased by 12 percent. Sales of cars with internal combustion engines fell by 5 percent during the quarter.
Hyundai said the sales of hybrids increased by 68 percent, while the sale of net electric vehicles increased by 3 percent.
Mr. Parker of Hyundai said he could not estimate the impact of tariffs on the company’s prices. Hyundai and its sister company, Kia, have factories in Georgia and Alabama, but import a large number of vehicles from South Korea.
“We haven’t made any fixed decisions yet,” Mr. Parker said. However, he added, “Don’t wait for me to buy what you can buy today.”
