After months of speculation, Toyota has finally confirmed the nightmare of its car buyers, namely that prices are going to go up and it's not a little, but a lot.
Toyota North America's chief operating officer, Mark Templin, admitted that the company was forced to raise the prices of its products following President Trump's 25% tariff on imported vehicles and parts.
According to Templin, the automotive industry has long struggled with affordability problems among consumers. Now, with these new tariffs, the situation has become even worse.
Toyota is expected to incur tariffs of $1.3 billion in just two months — April and May, and the impact is not small.
Not only will the price of new cars increase, but the cost of repairing existing vehicles is also expected to soar because parts are also subject to taxes.
This news is a strong blow to the Americans themselves who are currently "falling in love" with the Toyota brand, especially the RAV4 model, which is the best-selling passenger car this year.
With nearly half of Toyota’s U.S. sales coming from vehicles assembled overseas, including Japan, Canada and Mexico, consumers are now bearing the brunt of the rising prices.
The average price of a new car in the U.S. is now $48,000, with a monthly payment of more than $700. That’s not including insurance, which now averages $2,100 a year — up nearly 40% from before the pandemic.
Global supply chains are also increasingly fragile and unstable. And it seems that consumers have little choice. Want to save money? Maybe it’s time to forget about buying a car.
