Buckle up, because the new car market is about to get even rougher.
Right off the bat, let’s address the elephant in the room: I get there’s a lot of consumer exhaustion and fatigue going on concerning the whiplash from various tariffs over the past couple months. It’s not a pleasant subject to cover, but the fact of the matter is these new import tariffs are about to make buying a new car substantially more expensive for a large proportion — more than half — of buyers shopping in the American market. This new 25% import duty covers both finished vehicles and components manufactured or assembled outside the U.S., and are currently slated to go into effect on April 3 at 12:01 AM Eastern. As if new vehicles already weren’t expensive enough, iSeeCars compiled numbers for how much more new vehicles may cost as a result of these tariffs, with their projected figures driving up current (as of March 27) MSRPs by $6,000 to $12,000 across several of America’s most popular models.
“Buy American” is the driving talking point behind these levies, but the substantial increase in cost to import crucial components, even if the final vehicle is assembled in the U.S., may well significantly increase retail pricing for domestic brands like Ford, GM and Stellantis, as well as virtually every other global automaker. Whatever your stance on the policy decisions, redressing the U.S.’ trade balance through heavy tariffs will impact consumer choice in the market, and whether some people wind up buying a new car at all. One way to consider this is a turbocharged version of the 25% “Chicken Tax”, which has been in place since 1964 during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration, preventing certain overseas trucks from making it onto our shores.
With higher prices pretty much across the board, new cars may be farther out of reach for buyers without accumulating even more substantial debt, as automakers grapple with when and how much to pass the costs from paying import duties to the federal government onto consumers. iSeeCars’ early figures will give you some idea of what to expect, so you can at least arm yourself with that information if you are currently in the market for a new vehicle.
Potential price increases for America’s most popular vehicles
To be clear, it’s too early to tell exactly how much new car prices will increase. It depends on several factors, including how these newly announced 25% tariffs will roll out, as well as how automakers react to them. Companies could choose to insulate consumers from the shock of immediate price hikes, and the ratio of components sourced inside and outside North America (and how those prices may increase) will play into what sticker prices buyers might see in the coming weeks and months. Interest rates and incentives can also play into how automakers can meter out the impact of new tariffs onto consumers in the long-term.
Strictly assuming the worst-case scenario at the moment — take the current MSRP and increase it by 25% — this is how average pricing could look across various model lineups, according to the iSeeCars data:
| Potential 25% Price Increases on Vehicles Produced Outside the U.S. (Ranked) (Data credit: iSeeCars) | |||
| Model | Average New List Price | Price with Additional 25% | Additional Cost |
| Dodge Charger | $66,701 | $83,377 | $16,675 |
| GMC Sierra 1500 | $62,394 | $77,993 | $15,599 |
| Ram 1500 | $60,380 | $75,475 | $15,095 |
| Chevrolet Silverado 1500 | $55,612 | $69,515 | $13,903 |
| Toyota 4Runner | $54,126 | $67,658 | $13,532 |
| Chrysler Pacifica | $47,105 | $58,881 | $11,776 |
| Toyota Tacoma | $47,101 | $58,876 | $11,775 |
| Chevrolet Blazer | $42,691 | $53,364 | $10,673 |
| Subaru Forester | $37,124 | $46,405 | $9,281 |
| Honda CR-V | $35,897 | $44,871 | $8,974 |
| Toyota RAV4 | $35,764 | $44,704 | $8,941 |
| Nissan Rogue | $35,437 | $44,296 | $8,859 |
| GMC Terrain | $35,188 | $43,985 | $8,797 |
| Mazda CX-5 | $35,006 | $43,758 | $8,752 |
| Hyundai Tucson | $34,472 | $43,090 | $8,618 |
| Kia Sportage | $33,529 | $41,911 | $8,382 |
| Chevrolet Equinox | $33,208 | $41,510 | $8,302 |
| Jeep Compass | $31,633 | $39,542 | $7,908 |
| Hyundai Sonata | $30,517 | $38,146 | $7,629 |
| Honda HR-V | $29,658 | $37,072 | $7,414 |
| Honda Civic | $28,437 | $35,547 | $7,109 |
| Toyota Corolla | $25,371 | $31,714 | $6,343 |
| Hyundai Elantra | $25,312 | $31,640 | $6,328 |
| Nissan Sentra | $24,155 | $30,194 | $6,039 |
| Average for all listed vehicles | $40,170 | $50,212 | $10,042 |
Naturally, the higher the vehicle’s existing MSRP, the greater the impact — at least using the simplest possible method to determine these tariffs’ impacts. To that end, trucks and SUVs will see the highest increases in MSRP, since they’re already averaging well above $50,000 transaction prices. Even economy cars will feel the sting, however, as models like your humble Nissan Sentra or Toyota Corolla could see a $6,000 or greater hike, again depending on how automakers strategize passing tariff costs onto retail consumers.
In the case of trucks and SUVs, automakers already heavily incentivize models with thousands of dollars in cash back offers, so buyers don’t pay the actual MSRP. If these tariffs take their full effect on those same vehicles, then the net result is buyers could pay closer to the current MSRP, if incentives remain in place.
Regardless, the short-term forecast is higher pricing in showrooms, though we’ll have to keep an eye on sales reports to see the long-term fallout. For consumers who are already facing a serious cash crunch in the wake of higher prices on essential items, this could be less of a ripple effect and more of a shockwave through the broader economy as folks will, once again, have to shift their priorities and spending habits in the wake of virtually everything getting more expensive.
