Tariffs have the potential to make vehicles significantly more expensive, but some automakers have decided to temporarily absorb some of the price increases. Audi might not be one of them, however, as the company’s chief financial officer recently told Reuters that the automaker was seeking a “sweet spot” between rising prices and production output, and it could move some factories to the U.S. to sidestep the worst tariff impacts.
President Trump’s 25-percent tariffs are scheduled to go into effect on April 2, which would impact Audi’s North American operations in a big way. It builds the Q5 SUV in Mexico, one of its more popular models, but Audi could make use of parent company Volkswagen’s U.S. manufacturing footprint to get around the duties.
BMW said it would work to protect some of its vehicles from tariff impacts by absorbing some of the excess costs, but it also noted that a prolonged trade war would make it reconsider that position. While imported vehicles are the most obvious targets for Trump’s tariffs, they could also upend decades-long logistics routes for American automakers.
Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors all have significant manufacturing operations in Canada and Mexico, and some vehicles cross the international borders multiple times before completion, complicating the automakers’ supply chains and potentially adding thousands to the bottom-line price tag.
[Images: Audi]
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