Minneapolis — Every year, thousands of car buyers visit the Twin Cities Auto Show at the Minneapolis Convention Center to see the most recent models on the market.
This year, many car buyers wanted to know how tariffs would affect the auto industry and whether it was a good time to buy.
“It’s kind of fun to look,” prospective buyer Dean Schoeb said.
Even casual buyers like Schoeb are curious about how tariffs will affect prices.
“I’d say I’m looking to buy sometime within the next six months,” Schoeb stated.
“If it’s going to be a high tariff, I’m going to wait another year.”
He asked a few of the sales reps for advice on the tariffs, and he says many of them are as perplexed as he is.
“I asked them, and they go, ‘We don’t know for sure,'” Schoeb told me.
According to a new report from the Center for Automotive Research, the average American-made vehicle may cost an additional $4,239 to manufacture because many of its parts are imported from other countries. The report also suggests that the average imported vehicle may cost an additional $8,722.
Scott Lambert of the Twin Cities Auto Show says it’s unclear how much of the tariffs will be absorbed by manufacturers and how much will be passed on to dealers and customers.
“We don’t know exactly how the tariffs will affect things. It will have some sort of impact. Scott Lambert, director of the Twin Cities Auto Show, said, “We don’t know the extent of that yet.”
Lambert says manufacturers and dealers currently have more questions than answers, but they are doing their best to advise customers.
“The dealers are reporting increased traffic to their stores. “People are definitely discussing it,” Lambert said.
Kathy and Craig Stachowski are among the many shoppers who want to learn more about tariffs. They are casually shopping for a new vehicle and say that what and when they buy is heavily influenced by tariffs.
“If prices are changing by hundreds or thousands of dollars on a daily basis, that makes it really hard to want to pick a car,” Kathy told me.
“If I’m going to pay an extra $5,000 or 10% or whatever it is, I probably won’t buy,” Craig told me.
The Twin Cities Auto Show will be held this weekend from Friday to Sunday, and again from Wednesday to Saturday the next week. Tickets can be purchased online for $13, with a $10 discount for Wednesday and Thursday. Tickets at the door are $17. Children aged 10 and under can enter the show for free.