Tariff Tuesday - Sports Cars are Dead

[Drew Dowdell]

We picked April 15th because President Trump’s tariffs amount to one of the largest single increases in taxes on the American People in history. The tariffs which, if fully implemented, will raise $1.4 trillion in revenue, an increase per household of $1,900 to $7,600 per year. Trump's tariff policies change daily, sometimes hourly, so as always, this information is correct for at least 15 minutes after publication.

Each Tuesday we will cover how these tariffs will impact the auto industry in specific ways and review the tariff news from the past week.

Prediction: Affordable Sports Cars are Dead

Sports cars, coupes, and convertibles, are already suffering from low sales as the market continues its shift towards SUV. Light and nimble, and full of fun, sports cars don’t fit into the aging American populace’s lifestyle.

There have been no two-seaters built in the U.S. since the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky went out of production in 2010.

The Mazda Miata, Nissan Z, Subaru BRZ, Toyota 86 all have 1% domestic parts content, meaning that if the car is not yet in the country, there will be an additional 25% tax added to the price.   For the Mazda Miata, the lowest price of the group, that brings the base price from $29,530 to approximately $36,912, a more than $7,000 increase.  Mazda only sold 8,103 Miatas in 2024, already a decline of more than 1,000 units from 2023. Adding $7,000 to the price is not going to positively affect those sales numbers.

The scene is similarly bleak for the other models mentioned.  The Toyota 86 / Subaru BRZ sell roughly 15,000 units a year combined, but will also see a $7,000+ price increase going forward. At roughly the same price point, Toyota sells 18,000 U.S.-built Toyota RAV-4s every 2 weeks.

The Nissan Z, which struggled to grow last year, has finally gained momentum, catching up to the Miata in number, but with a $44,000 base price it could see a jump of $11,000, a tough pill to swallow for a car that is largely sold as a spare, fun car.

Even the Ford Mustang with its 80% domestic parts content is not immune. Until the tariff drama started, the term “domestic content” included parts sourced from Canada and Mexico as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Even if all of the 80% domestic content is produced in the United States, the remaining content could see at least a $1600 increase in price. However, Ford doesn't fully break down which parts of the domestic content are actually built in Canada or Mexico, so additional costs could be imposed above the $1,600 increase.

Ford Mustang sales cratered in Q4 of 2024, falling over 43% from the same quarter in 2023. For the full year 2024, Mustang sales fell 9% year over year and for the first time, the Mustang Mach-E EV crossover outsold its namesake. This happened all while the Mustang’s main competitors, the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger, ended production and sales dwindled out.

At the higher end of the market, Porsche and Lamborghini have warned that they will have to add massive price increase to their products to remain in the U.S. market.

With sales already struggling for affordable sports cars, we think it is unlikely that many will survive, leaving only high-end sports cars available to consumers.

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[G. David Felt]

R.I.P. to the affordable sports car, but also to young people being able to afford an auto period! 😒 

Tariffs led to the Great depression, now another less than intelligent person is destroying this country. Amazing how after 6 bankruptcies, people still felt #47 was a good choice to lead this great democracy. America is a Great Country, never fell down except in the dementia minds of the boomers who want to live in the 50's/60's again.

[ccap41]

"affordable" sports cars were dead like 5-10 years ago. Once Camaro SSs and Mustang GTs couldn't be found for under 40k, Miatas crested 25k, BRZs surpassed 30k. A BRZ is already nearly 8k more than it was when it first came out. 

 

[Drew Dowdell]

4 hours ago, ccap41 said:

"affordable" sports cars were dead like 5-10 years ago. Once Camaro SSs and Mustang GTs couldn't be found for under 40k, Miatas crested 25k, BRZs surpassed 30k. A BRZ is already nearly 8k more than it was when it first came out. 

 

While that’s true, that’s also true across the industry. So affordable is still relative to its non-sports-car showroom mates. 
 

The Jeep Renegade was under $20k when released and by the time it was canceled was $30k

[smk4565]

Tariffs will kill off the Japanese sports cars, and the Mitsubishi brand and probably Maserati, JLR, Alfa Romeo who are all struggling and might be gone in 5 years even without tariffs.  Which then, with less competition in the market, prices of everyone else will probably go up.

[G. David Felt]

7 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

Tariffs will kill off the Japanese sports cars, and the Mitsubishi brand and probably Maserati, JLR, Alfa Romeo who are all struggling and might be gone in 5 years even without tariffs.  Which then, with less competition in the market, prices of everyone else will probably go up.

Agree that this whole Tariff mess will take out those that are already on deaths door. This I suspect could clean out a few of the early name plates. Sad that so many billions was wasted by an idiot CEO trying to rebuild a dead industry in Italy with trying to bring back poorly built name plates. Alfa Romeo, Maserati should have never been invested in. But that can now be said for more American name plates too. Time to let Chrysler die with dignity. In my humble opinion Buick other than China should just be put into the history books. GM = Entry level Chevrolet - Mid level GMC and luxury Cadillac.

We still have an overabundance on name plates globally.

[Drew Dowdell]

46 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

Tariffs will kill off the Japanese sports cars, and the Mitsubishi brand and probably Maserati, JLR, Alfa Romeo who are all struggling and might be gone in 5 years even without tariffs.  Which then, with less competition in the market, prices of everyone else will probably go up.

The tariffs definitely put Stellantis in a bit of a pickle.