Massive car company stops all US imports

Major automakers are suspending exports to the US in response to Donald Trump’s vehicle tariffs.

The Volkswagen Group has responded to President Donald Trump’s vehicle tariffs in the US by suspending imports of Audi vehicles.

VW, the world’s second-largest car company, owns everal brands including Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Skoda, Lamborghini and Cupra.

A bulletin sent to Audi dealers in the US reportedly states that the auto giant is holding back cars that arrived in US ports after April 2.

The manufacturer has around two months’ supply of vehicles with dealers today.

The news comes after Britain’s Jaguar Land Rover suspended exports to the US after the controversial tariff was introduced last week.

The company says it will implement a “short-term” pause as it considers how to mitigate the cost of Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariff.

New cars await shipment to overseas markets at a port in Taicang in eastern China's Jiangsu province on Monday, April 7. Picture: Chinatopix via AP

British sports car maker Lotus has reportedly told customers that “no more Emira (sports cars) will be shipped to the US at this point”, and Nissan has stopped taking orders for Infiniti SUVs made in Mexico.

Stellantis, the parent company to Jeep and Dodge, has suspended production at a Canadian plant on the border with the US.

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Jaguar Land Rover will halt exports of its luxury cars to the US. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Speaking with Australian media at the launch of the new Ranger Super Duty, Ford executive chair Bill Ford said the blue oval’s enormous presence in America was a “huge advantage”, even though some models were made outside the US.

“First of all, we have the largest American footprint of any OEM, and that puts us in pretty good shape relative to many others,” he said.

“I keep reminding my management team of this: we’ve been around 122 years, and in 122 years, around the world we’ve gone through every kind of political regime, every kind of economic turmoil – depressions and recessions – and we always come out of it in great shape.

“I’ve been through nine major crises in my career, and each time it felt like it was existential, and each time we emerged from it, carried on and go to new heights.”

On the supercar scene, Lamborghini celebrated its best-ever sales year in 2024, but acknowledges Mr Trump’s aggressive tax on vehicles imported into the US will impact the company in 2025.

Lamborghini chief executive Stephan Winkelmann says the company is working on different scenarios and preparing for the idea that the trade war could reduce business volumes and margins.

“I would be happy that there would be immunity, this for sure is going to affect our approach,” Mr Winkelmann told Australian media.

“We are working on different scenarios of timely, and we will come up with our response in the next days.”

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Stephan Winkelmann says Lamborghini is preparing following Trump’s tariffs. Picture: Supplied

The US tariffs add further uncertainty to an already contracting luxury market. This is especially concerning for brands like Lamborghini, for whom the US is a major market.

The Italian carmaker, announced its revenues rose 16 per cent last year to $A5.6 billion (3.09 billion euros) while its operating profit was up 15.5 per cent to $A1.5 billion (835 million euros).

Lamborghini sold a record 10,687 vehicles last year, with around 3,000 units in the United States, its single largest market.

Lamborghini saw a record-breaking 2024. Picture: Supplied

Following a record-breaking 2024, Mr Winkelmann identifies a potential solution to US tariffs: finding a “sweet spot” that allows the automaker to preserve profit margins by transferring these tariffs to car buyers.

“There is a maximum limit within which to dump duties on customers: from there on, you give up margins. We have to see how our competitors behave and how US customers react. There are risks to our volumes,” Mr Winkelmann told Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia.

– David McCowen

Originally published as Massive car company stops all US imports