Automobile sales increased in advance of Trump's rates

The automotive industry witnessed a different type of madness in March last month when buyers mass went to the dealers to set the agreements before the automotive rates of President Trump elevated prices for thousands of dollars, several car manufacturers said.

“Last weekend was, with much, the best weekend I've seen in a long time,” Randy Parker, executive director of Hyundai Motor North America, said on Tuesday. The company reported a 13 percent increase in March sales on Monday compared to the previous year.

Ford Motor said on Monday that his March sales in concessionaires increased by 19 percent. However, Ford sales during the general quarter fell 1 percent, about 500,000 vehicles, due to a decrease in sales to the fleet customers, the company said.

General Motors did not provide a separate figure for March, but reported that sales in the first quarter increased 17 percent compared to the previous year, to 693,000 vehicles.

Trump said last week that he would impose 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles, starting Thursday. Rates will be extended to imported car parts on May 3. Many cars manufactured in the US factories contain parts made abroad, often exceeding 50 percent of the vehicle value. Analysts estimate that car manufacturers will have to increase the prices of some models by more than $ 10,000 to compensate for the new levies.

Several automobile manufacturers reported strong increases in sales of electric and hybrid vehicles, while car sales driven only by internal combustion engines increased more modestly or decreased.

GM said that its sales of vehicles driven by batteries had almost doubled, 32,000 cars, since the electric version of the Equinox Sport utilitarian vehicle was widely available. With an initial price of approximately $ 35,000, the equinox is one of the most affordable electric vehicles available in the United States.

Toyota said that sales of hybrids and electric vehicles in their American unit increased 44 percent in March, to 113,000 vehicles, and represented almost half of the total sales. Toyota dominates the hybrid market, but is a relatively small player in fully electric vehicles.

Ford said that sales of hybrid vehicles during the first quarter had increased 33 percent and that sales of electric vehicles such as Mustang Mach-E had increased by 12 percent. Car sales with internal combustion engines fell 5 percent.

Hyundai said that quarterly hybrid sales had triggered 68 percent, while sales of pure electric vehicles had increased by 3 percent. And BMW said that the sales of their electric vehicles had increased by 26 percent in the United States. Including BMW cars with internal combustion engines, US sales of the German company increased 4 percent in the first quarter.

Hyundai Mr. Parker said he could not estimate what impact rates they would have in the company's prices. Hyundai and his sister company, Kia, have factories in Georgia and Alabama, but import a substantial number of southern Korea vehicles.

“We have not yet made any firm decision,” said Parker. But he added: “Do not wait to buy tomorrow what I can buy today.”