The new Toyota cars are shown in the sales lot in Hilltop Toyota on March 4, 2025 in Richmond, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty images
Recently announced, American tariffs on automotive imports have shaken Asian car manufacturers, pressing companies before the implementation of duties later in the week.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced Wednesday last Wednesday, large 25% tariffs on cars “not made in the United States”, sending shock waves through global car manufacturers.
Toyota’s shares fell 9.4% in the three sessions after the announcement, while Nissan fell 9.3%. Hyundai of South Korea lost 11.2%.
Japanese automobile manufacturers are particularly in a terrible narrow one, with Toyota is probably the worst blow due to its enormous US sales, according to Vivek Vaidya, world leader of customers for mobility in the research firm Frost & Sullivan.
According to the US car market. UU. Carpro, Asian car manufacturers constituted six of the eight main car manufacturers in the USA by sales volume in 2024. Toyota occupied the first place with 1.98 million vehicles sold during the year, surpassing Ford and Chevrolet weights.
From Japan Sling and Nissan They were in the fourth and fifth place, respectively, while South Korean brands Hyundai And Kia took the next two places. Subaru He arrived eighth.
The most recent financial statements in companies reveal that they generate a large part of their North America income, which means that any tariff impact is easily compensated.
Toyota and Nissan told CNBC that they had no immediate opinions to share, while the remaining four did not respond to comments requests.
The US imported automotive products worth $ 474 billion in 2024, including passenger cars worth $ 220 billion, according to Reuters.
A Global S&P mobility report of March 27 revealed that South Korea was the second largest car exporter to the United States in 2024 with 1.4 million vehicles sent, behind 2.5 million Mexico, while Japan exported 1.3 million.
“In a nutshell, the United States is an irreplaceable market for Asian car manufacturers. Japan and Korean market leaders would be very affected by this [tariff] Announcement, “said Vaidya.
Even if automobile manufacturers wanted to transfer production to the US. To avoid rates, move factories is not a “proposal during the night” and will take billions of dollars, said Joe McCabe, president and CEO of AutoForecast Solutions.
Richard Kaye, Asset Management Group portfolio manager, Comguest, told CNBC that, although heavyweights such as Toyota and Nissan have a large production installation in the United States, they will not be able to increase it enough to compensate for tariffs.
“The idea that any Mexican can eliminate, [and] To some extent, the Canadian supply of its supply chain is ridiculous. Higher prices will face in the US. Due to rates. And the big question for them is, do I drink it or ask the consumer to swallow it? Presumably, they will swallow it, and that will be very difficult, “Kaye said.
But Kaye has a slightly different vision of Frost and Vaidya de Sullivan. He said that Toyota is the biggest player is probably better located to resist rates. “But there is no way that they can have this impact without any effect on the final result. It will hurt,” he added.
Identify a brilliant point in the Asian space of the automation manufacturer: the Japanese manufacturer Suzuki.
Kaye points out that the company, which does not sell cars in the US, has seen its actions better than those of its colleagues.
Suzuki He had seen an annual gain of more than 1% to Monday, compared to a loss of 16.45% for Toyota and almost 21% fall in Nissan. Hyundai and Kia have seen losses of almost 7% and 8%, respectively.
As Suzuki does not sell cars to the US, the impact of the rate on the company is “zero,” Kaye said. “Suzuki is a work of India, and that is a very exceptional company in this space.”
