Featured Trump tariffs put the US auto industry in disarray

I wish I could pull off things the way @bwilson4web does it. I feel a bit enslaved to the economy, not someone who can call his own shots.

On the other hand, has someone else mentioned this yet? Kirk Kreifels says that Mazda and Subaru are going to kill off their cheaper cars in the USA including all their sedans due to tarriffs.. So now we have two more SUV only companies in the USA.

 

That is interesting news if true... but not a big deal at all - if there is a demand for that type of product and money can be made some others will immediately fill the gap ...
ex: see KIA K4, Seltos or Soul or Hyundai Venue or Elantra or Toyota Corolla or Corolla Cross.

 

How many of those sedan Mazda/Subi cars are selling? How many do you see? Why would you build a factory to make them?

 

Mike those are good points.
I expect if they were selling a lot of these and making money they would never consider cutting them from their lineup.

 

There's more profit to be made in selling an American more car than they need on a longer loan, as it works out in the majority of sales.

It enables the worst instincts of the buyer and rewards the lender and manufacturer more. Something I'd personally prefer to avoid, but that just got a notch more difficult.

 

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Oh for Pete's sake give people credit for some sense- that may hold true in your part of the country but not here.

People I am acquainted with here research before buying - locate the very best deal and then do their own financing or in many cases will buy outright.

Buy a vehicle that doesn't make sense for my lifestyle - preposterous!
We used an internet service Edmunds to get the very best deal from a Network of Dealers in our area - I determined the car I wanted for my needs - I determined the buying price based on Edmunds research for prices paid for vehicles in my area and I determined the successful Dealer who got our business.

Sam's Costco etc. all have car buying services available to their members.

Not being able to control yourself, your money and how you spend it is a personal problem not an Automotive Manufacturing problem
Do agree you need to go into the process of buying a car informed and with both eyes open and that the process of how a car is traditionally bought can be treacherous for new/uninformed people and individuals with no impulse control.

 

But the type and price range of a car that makes sense for someone like me is going away.

The death of affordable cars means that Moore people turn to the used car market which means used car prices also increase.

Cars are a lot more expensive than they ever were, adjusting for inflation. I don't see the tariffs making them any cheaper.

 

I hope so. We'll see. I read somewhere that Kia and Hyundai may also drop that segment in the USA due to lower or non-existent profit margins due to tariffs. That would kind of put Toyota in a monopoly.

I wonder what Chevy will do with the Trax, although to me it doesn't matter since my research tells me to not to even touch that vehicle with a 10 foot pole.

What else is there? Ford Escape? Which I'm not sure if they've fixed the transmission issues in the newer ones yet.

 

Domestics did that a while back in case you didn't notice, only they didn't blame Trump for it because he hadn't gotten arrested, shot and re-elected yet. It's not because of tariffs but rather because there's not enough of a margin in an econobox to cost justify the elephantine gestation period for a new car.
They get to BLAME it on Trump because TDS sufferers will believe it without bothering to look into the reasons and Trump's base will deny it in like manner.
Most of the domestics are doing eensy-weensie CUVs which are minivans without the sliding door, with larger tires and a lower roof-line.
They call them "SUVs" for marketing, or a "crossover" SUV - meaning not-an-SUV.
The only real US CARS that are left are not small, at least by 2020 standards.

 

If they are stopping Manufacuring of vehicles it is probably for very good reasons. No one kills off their own buisness or a source of customer satisfaction and profit.

It is up to each individual in life to write their own story.



..... along with a 100,000 powertrain transmission warranty / 60,000 on everything else as well as the base models having every tech and safety feature available.

 

Wish they were really that cheap!

 

For another year-ish anyway...

 

it's too bad that ford could never get the escape right, i always thought it was a nice size

 

did they ever fix those 'wet' timing- and oil- pump belts - heard your lucky to get 75K-100K on them before they let loose....

I do like their older taxi cab escape hybrids - those were pretty bullet proof.

 

No clue. I've rented a few of them over the years and they are not among my favorites, even for that maintenance-free experience. Sloppy handling, hulky-bulky SUV feel without actually having that much interior space and the infotainment is a few years behind the competition.

 

They are:


In our area low supply is pushing the cost up - apprx by $1000 but I can wait until they come back down in price - this is the vehicle our daughter is probably going to end up with.

In a few months I will try Edmunds new car buying service - List the exact car I am ready to buy - the price I will pay- and see if there are any takers - if not - no problems will wait a little longer - my guess is there will be at least a couple of takers to match the MSRP - also expect to get the KIA Vetern $500 cash back and the KIA $500 Student Discount!

 

Good Luck!

 

Yeah, there are more reasons than just tariffs. Consumer choice is one.

What I have personally noticed is when I was in the market for a sub $20,000 car I was seriously interested in Honda Fits, Toyota Yarises, Mitsubishi Mirages and Nissan Versas. But seeing how I could get a barely used Toyota hybrid for cheaper, I went for the hybrid.

Now that COVID hit and used car prices went through the roof I don't see any more cheap used Toyota hybrid cars. A 3 to 5 year old Toys hybrid just out of warranty is now about $30,000 and up for a Prius instead of $15,000 and up for an Avalon hybrid.

But this time around there are no $15,000 new cars. About the cheapest new car is a new Corolla at nearly $10,000 more.

Yes, there must be good reasons. I'm no expert. What I do know is most, if not all, econo model cars have been made in foreign countries. This includes ones sold by US manufacturers, like the Geo Metro, the Chevy Spark and Chevy Trax. I'm not sure about Ford's econo cars, but I'm sure it's a similar story.

This tells me that the USA is incapable of producing a cheap econo car. While perhaps not the only reason, and maybe not even the main reason, I can't help to think that imposing tariffs on foreign vehicles isn't part of the reason they are being discontinued in the USA. These cars needed foreign workers to be competitive and still had low profit margins.

At any rate, I'm still pessimistic about my next car, if I ever get another car. The cars I can afford now seem to be utter garbage. I guess I'll have to up my budget and find even more side hustles for a vehicle I will hate with a passion.

 

It could also be that the USA car makers are incapable of wanting to produce a cheap econo car, as long as they can pay their marketing teams enough to pump up demand for bigger profit-margin cars, and then say that's what they build 'cause the market drives them.