Many car makers said that the auto industry witnessed a different kind of madness last March, as buyers flocked to agents to close the deals before raising the Trump tariff by thousands of dollars.
“At the end of last week was the best weekend I saw in a very long time,” Randy Parker, CEO of Hyundai Motor North America told reporters on Tuesday. The company reported a 13 percent increase in March sales on Monday compared to the previous year.
Ford Motor said on Monday that its sales in March increased by 19 percent. However, Ford sales during the total quarter decreased by 1 percent, to about 500,000 cars, due to the decrease in sales of fleet customers.
General Motors did not provide a separate number for the month of March, but stated that sales in the first quarter increased by 17 percent from the previous year, to 693,000 cars.
Mr. Trump said last week that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles, starting on Thursday. The definitions will be extended to the imported car parts on May 3. Many cars made in American factories have parts made abroad, and often exceeding 50 percent of the car value. Analysts estimate that car makers will have to increase the prices of some models by more than $ 10,000 to compensate for new fees.
GM, Ford and Hyundai mentioned increases in electric and hybrid car sales. General Motors said that vehicle sales that only work with batteries have multiplied to almost 32,000 cars, as the electrical version of the EXHINOX Sport Formity vehicle has become widely available. With the start of about 35,000 dollars, moderation is one of the most available electric cars in the United States.
Ford said that the sales of hybrid vehicles increased by 33 percent and that sales of electric car such as Mustang Mach-E increased by 12 percent. Car sales with internal combustion engines decreased during a 5 percent quarter.
Hyundai said that hybrid sales increased by 68 percent, while sales of pure electric cars increased by 3 percent.
Mr. Parker from Hyundai said he could not estimate the impact that the definitions will make on the company’s prices. Hyundai and its sister company, KIA, have factories in Georgia and Alabama, but it imports large numbers of vehicles from South Korea.
Mr. Parker said: “We have not made any fixed decisions yet,” said Mr. Parker. But he added: “Don’t wait to buy tomorrow you can buy it today.”