Automakers could still face up to $12,000 impact per car from tariffs

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Michigan-based economic consulting group said on Thursday that automakers will still face a $2,000 to $12,000 tariff impact per vehicle despite the White House moving to soften trade levies on imported auto parts.

Anderson Economic Group said U.S. assembled vehicles like Honda's Civic and Odyssey, the Chevy Malibu, Toyota Camry Hybrid, and Ford Explorer faced an impact of $2,000 to $3,000.

But that could rise to as much as $10,000 to $12,000 for imported vehicles, including full-size luxury SUVs, some EVs and other vehicles assembled in Europe and Asia, such as the Mercedes G-Wagon, Land Rover and Range Rover models, some BMW models, and the Ford Mach-E.

The Ford Explorer assembled in Chicago previously faced a tariff impact of about $4,300, which will drop to about $2,400, the group estimated, while some Jeep, Ram and Chrysler models from Stellantis could face a $4,000 to $8,000 hit.

GM said on Thursday that it expected a hit from tariffs of up to $5 billion, including $2 billion on vehicles it imports from South Korea.

The automakers did not comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Earlier this week, Trump agreed to give carmakers two years to boost the percentage of domestic components in vehicles assembled in the United States.

It will allow them to offset tariffs for imported auto parts equal to 3.75% of the total value of the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of vehicles they build in the U.S. through April 2026, and 2.5% of U.S. production through April 2027.

Auto industry leaders lobbied the administration furiously during the weeks since Trump first unveiled his 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts. The levies, aimed at forcing automakers to reshore manufacturing domestically, had threatened to upend a North American automotive production network integrated across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The White House said the change will not affect the 25% tariffs imposed last month on the 8 million vehicles the United States imports annually.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)