If there’s one thing the auto industry hates, it’s uncertainty. When it takes upward of five or six years to bring a new car model to market, a certain administration throwing caution and global goodwill to the wind with a raft of unpredictable tariffs is decidedly bad news.
Right now, the US tariff situation is constantly shifting, with limited exceptions being granted for certain manufacturers whose leaders are willing to bend the knee. While there is talk of some potential relief, global auto manufacturers have yet to be given a reprieve from a 25 percent tariff on vehicles assembled outside of the United States.
This is an unprecedented situation, both in terms of the severity of the action and the swiftness with which it was enacted. It’s already had immediate impacts, like Audi holding foreign-made vehicles at port, and Jaguar Land Rover suspending all shipments to the US.
It remains to be seen which manufacturers will be most affected, but one thing is clear: car shoppers who’d been sitting on the fence about a new purchase are now rushing to their local dealers.
People like Andrew Neuberger, an Atlanta-area resident who works in the automotive software space, had a first-generation BMW X2 M35i that he was reasonably happy with. “I wasn’t planning on getting rid of the car for at least another year or two,” he said. “But as soon as I heard about the tariff situation, I started to consider accelerating things just due to the uncertainty of it.”
“I wasn’t planning on getting rid of the car for at least another year or two.”
Neuberger had hoped to wait for one of BMW’s next-generation EVs built on the upcoming Neue Klasse platform, which is not due to hit the market until late 2025 or early 2026. Instead, he went for the SQ6 E-tron from Audi. He said he was able to negotiate a reasonable lease price on the performance SUV and locked it in as early as he could.
According to data from Cox Automotive, which provides regular analysis of the global auto scene, new vehicle sales “surged” in March, “driven by strong seasonal trends and the urgency created by the import tariff announcement.”
The rate of new vehicle sales in March was up 17.2 percent over that in late February, with the average inventory of new cars dropping from 91 days’ worth at the beginning of March to 70 days by the end of it. In other words: dealer lots are starting to get picked clean.
EV sales were up 11.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025 year over year over the first quarter of 2024, and that’s despite Tesla sales bucking the trend and dropping 13 percent. Used car sales are booming, too, up 12.2 percent over the same period last year.
One of those purchases was made by John Osborn, who’s been looking for his unicorn: a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk. “I wanted a V8 in a non-grayscale color, which is a rare combination,” he said. He’d planned on waiting until the summer to find one. “Tariffs made it look like prices were going to go up, so I decided to move quickly and bought a car with my second choice color rather than wait indefinitely for the perfect spec to show up.” He took home a 2021 model last weekend.
In California, Steve Martegani had been thinking about adding a Mazda MX-5 Miata to his personal fleet but wasn’t looking to pull the trigger until the end of the year. That changed when he started reading about the tariffs. He was advised to move quickly by his Mazda dealer in Elk Grove. “That weekend, they had a significant increase in appointments and were expecting a big sales weekend,” he said. He put down a deposit on a car sitting at port instead of ordering one from Japan.
“Tariffs made it look like prices were going to go up, so I decided to move quickly.”
Martegani’s dealer was not the only one seeing the rush. Alan Valenti, general manager at Valenti Auto Group in Connecticut, which sells a spate of European brands including Audi, Jaguar, Porsche, and Volkswagen, said his sales teams are seeing an uptick in buyer interest and motivation.
“Lately, especially after COVID, when there’s uncertainty in the market, people think there might be a decrease in supply. They tend to maybe want to act sooner rather than later,” he said.
This is even hitting more niche brands. Valenti said his group’s Jaguar dealer had good inventory, but it’s “starting to get picked off.”
This is an evolving situation, but what was until recently a buyer’s market is rapidly shifting into the dealer’s court, according to Tom McParland, owner and operator at Automatch Consulting, which helps people find and negotiate car purchases.
McParland said he’s seen a significant increase in demand, starting days after the initial announcement of tariff action. “That weekend we had a huge scramble of folks wanting to get ahead of stuff and get deals closed,” he said.
He said that some dealers are doing the right thing and simply moving inventory quickly at fair prices, but others are taking more aggressive action, raising prices even on cars that were imported well before the tariff was announced.
Ford and Stellantis are bucking the trend by offering employee pricing to all. But where there were discounts to be had on many models not long ago, things are different today, according to McParland. “Deals are expiring rapidly,” he said.
“Deals are expiring rapidly.”
He also fears that other incentives, like cash-back offers or special financing rates, may go away even for American-made cars as manufacturers try to keep things balanced and offset the increased cost of other models — a concern we’ve also heard from other experts.
It’s not a great situation if you’re in the market, but McParland does have a few tips. First, if you find an acceptable deal, pull the trigger. “Don’t step over a fair deal waiting for a better one,” he said.
And second, follow Osborn’s lead on his Jeep purchase, and don’t hold the line waiting for your perfect specification. “The more flexible you are, the better your chances,” he said. “The pickier you are, you’re probably going to pay more.”
And what about the unlucky souls who placed an overseas order for their perfectly configured dream car, which hasn’t been fulfilled yet? You’d better call your dealer if you haven’t already and make sure that the price you negotiated is locked in, because you might be in for a surprise.
