Tariffs Could Tack Extra $2K Onto Car Price Tags

American tariff policy is reportedly set to make the cost of buying a car even higher.

Auto prices are expected to climb by nearly $2,000 per vehicle, Bloomberg News reported Thursday (June 19), citing findings from consulting group AlixPartners.

According to the report, Alix expects carmakers to pass along 80% of the cost of the White House’s tariffs, which it estimates as $1,760 per car. In addition, the firm also warned that the Trump administration’s anti-electric vehicle (EV) stance risks reducing American car companies to bit players in the worldwide EV market.

“These tariffs bring a big wall of cost,” Mark Wakefield, global auto market lead for AlixPartners, said in an online briefing with reporters, adding that his company foresees “consumers taking the majority of the hit.”

The Bloomberg report said both Ford and General Motors have already said they expect a respective $2.5 billion and $5 billion tariff-related impact this year. However, both companies said they will turn to price adjustments to offset those increases.

Those steeper prices will mean about 1 million fewer vehicles sold in the U.S. in the next three years, Wakefield said. Still, Alix expects U.S. auto sales to reach 17 million in 2030, 1 million more than last year, as the effect of tariffs fades.

“This tariff wall is not likely to last forever,” Wakefield said.

In other tariff-related news, a new study from PYMNTS Intelligence and Visa Acceptance Solutions, the May 2025 “Consumer Tariff Sentiment” report shows that close to half of U.S. shoppers expect tariffs to increase prices at double the current inflation rate.

As covered here Thursday, the research found that more than 80% of consumers are taking measures to alleviate the impact of tariffs on their wallets. In fact, the average American is making almost five of these behavior changes, while 44% of consumers say they’ve already changed their shopping habits in reaction to tariff-induced price pressures.

Retailers are responding in numerous ways, according to the report. Major grocers, for instance, are testing out “good, better, best” product tiers, offering premium domestic products as well as lower-priced imports in the same category.

In addition, direct-to-consumer brands like Everlane and Rothy’s are leaning more heavily into origin transparency, hoping to reassure customers about the cost-value proposition of locally made goods.

“Meanwhile, sophisticated retailers are using AI to segment customers not just by purchase history but by values alignment, delivering personalized offers based on a shopper’s inferred beliefs about sustainability, nationalism or price sensitivity,” PYMNTS added.