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After a slow start to the year, some Baton Rouge car dealers are seeing an uptick in sales leading up to President Trump’s soon-to-be-imposed tariffs on automobiles and automobile parts.
The president signed a proclamation last Wednesday imposing a 25% tariff on automobile imports and certain automobile parts. The tariffs are slated to go into effect on Thursday, according to Reuters.
Nick Pentas, general manager and co-owner of Mercedes-Benz of Baton Rouge, says more customers have mentioned the tariffs while making car purchases in the last few days.
“I don’t know if [tariffs are] driving some of the consumers to act a little more now, when there is certainty on pricing, whereas the future has uncertainty on pricing,” Nick Pentas tells Daily Report. “I don’t think people are buying something they don’t need because of it. But I think if they’re in the market and pretty close to making a decision, they may accelerate their decision by a few days.”
March saw the highest sales of the first quarter, with midsize SUVs being the dealer’s top performer, Pentas says. About 43% of the cars Mercedes-Benz of Baton Rouge sells are manufactured in the U.S. However, some of the parts from those vehicles are made in Germany and still risk being impacted by the tariffs. Pentas anticipates that tariffs won’t affect cars already priced or on the lot, but says vehicles priced and produced after April may see cost increases.
Eric Lane, partner at Gerry Lane Enterprises, and Brent LeBlanc, owner of Price LeBlanc Toyota, both say they haven’t experienced a tariff-influenced customer rush.
LeBlanc says a few customers have mentioned tariffs “here and there,” but he expects the rush to come in after the tariffs go into effect. First-quarter sales are down roughly 10% from last year for Gerry Lane Enterprises, says Lane, as the company is still catching up after its operations were affected for a week due to the January snowstorm.
As the automobile tariffs will soon go into effect, Lane says he believes the tariffs will positively benefit American consumers.
“Everybody wants to talk about how bad the tariffs are, but I look at it this way: car manufacturers, including General Motors, just shut down a plant in China and they’re building a plant in America,” Lane says. “I think the tariffs are going to bring some jobs back to this country. I’m already seeing it.”
