Tariff Relief: Ford Won’t Pump Up Prices

Great news: Ford says it doesn’t expect it will pump up prices in response to the tariffs enacted by President Trump, despite previous indications it would do the opposite. That comes as a relief to wary car shoppers, many of them believing new vehicles will become completely unaffordable in the near future.

Jaguar Land Rover has resumed importing cars to the US.

Ford CFO Sherry House told the media on May 5 Ford will lose an anticipated $1.5 billion on the tariffs, making them far less costly than the company’s electric vehicle program for last year. House says consumers will see a 1 to 1.5 percent increase in prices for the second half of the year.

According to CNN, House speculated that come the fall, new cars might in general have higher sticker prices. Considering sales for most brands seem to be slowing down, that’s not great news for automakers and dealers.

Here’s what really gets us about this tariff situation. While there’s been much hand-wringing about vehicle prices increasing by as much as 25 percent as a result of the tariffs, it’s like people don’t remember how affordable cars were just ten years ago.

For example, you could scoop up a base 2015 Ford F-150 for just $26,615. A 2025 Ford F-150 starts at $39,445. That’s almost a 50 percent price increase! Where was the outrage about new vehicle prices before all this?

What’s really crazy was base MSRP for a 2020 Ford F-150 was still fairly reasonable at $28,745. In other words, most of the crazy price increases for new cars have happened in the past five years.

Maybe the wheels need to come off the auto industry before there’s some actual relief for Americans? Just take a look at the online stock for a dealership near you if you think everything is fine.

Image via Ford