The auto industry witnessed a different kind of March madness last month as buyers flocked to dealerships to lock in deals before President Trump’s auto tariffs lift prices by thousands of dollars, several carmakers said.
“This past weekend was by far the best weekend I’ve seen in a very long time,” Randy Parker, the chief executive of Hyundai Motor North America, told reporters on Tuesday. The company reported a 13 percent increase in March sales on Monday compared with a year earlier.
Ford Motor said Monday that its March sales at dealerships rose 19 percent. However, Ford’s sales during the overall quarter slipped 1 percent, to about 500,000 vehicles, because of a decline in sales to fleet customers, the company said.
General Motors did not provide a separate figure for March, but reported that sales in the first quarter rose 17 percent from a year earlier, to 693,000 vehicles.
Mr. Trump said last week that he would impose 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles, effective Thursday. The tariffs will be extended to imported auto parts on May 3. Many cars made in U.S. factories contain parts made abroad, frequently exceeding 50 percent of the vehicle’s value. Analysts estimate that carmakers will have to increase prices of some models by more than $10,000 to compensate for the new levies.
Several carmakers reported sharp increases in sales of electric vehicles and hybrids, while sales of cars powered solely by internal combustion engines rose more modestly or declined.
G.M. said its sales of vehicles powered just by batteries had almost doubled, to 32,000 cars, as the electric version of the Equinox sport utility vehicle became widely available. With a starting price of about $35,000, the Equinox is one of the most affordable electric vehicles available in the United States.
Toyota said sales of hybrids and electric vehicles in its North American unit rose 44 percent in March, to 113,000 vehicles, and accounted for almost half of total sales. Toyota dominates the market for hybrids but is a relatively small player in fully electric vehicles.
Ford said that sales of hybrid vehicles during the first quarter had risen 33 percent and that sales of electric vehicles like the Mustang Mach-E had risen 12 percent. Sales of cars with internal combustion engines fell 5 percent.
Hyundai said quarterly sales of hybrids had soared 68 percent while sales of pure electric vehicles had risen 3 percent. And BMW said sales of its electric vehicles rose 26 percent in the United States. Including BMW cars with internal combustion engines, the German company’s U.S. sales rose 4 percent in the first quarter.
Mr. Parker of Hyundai said he could not estimate what impact tariffs would have on the company’s prices. Hyundai and its sister company, Kia, have factories in Georgia and Alabama, but they import substantial numbers of vehicles from South Korea.
“We haven’t made any firm decisions yet,” Mr. Parker said. But he added, “Don’t wait to buy tomorrow what you can buy today.”
