Ford May Raise Prices Across The Board Due To Trump's Tariffs

Good morning! It's Thursday, April 17, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, we're taking a look at how automakers are handling pricing in a Trump Tariff world, what Chinese ads are no longer allowed to say about vehicles with advanced drive assist tech and Ford's latest recalls.

Buckle up. It's going to be a fun one.

Ford might end up increasing prices of newly built vehicles starting in May if President Trump doesn't do something about the tariffs he levied against automotive imports as well as the trade war he caused just for the hell of it. In a memo, the president of Ford Blue and Model e, said that the company was still working to understand what effect these tariffs would have. However, he did say he believes "certain tariffs are likely to remain in place for at least some time." He added that Ford's manufacturing presence in the U.S. has allowed it to avoid having to change production or increase pricing so far.

Here's more of the memo from Andrew Frick, obtained by Automotive News:

"As we mentioned during the April 1 'Dealer Go-to-Market Call,' we will not increase the MSRP for any vehicle currently in inventory with our Ford and Lincoln dealers, and our employee pricing offer will remain in the market through June 2, 2025, as advertised," Frick wrote. "However, in the absence of material changes to the tariff policy as articulated to date, we anticipate the need to make vehicle pricing adjustments in the future, which is expected to happen with May production."

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"We're 100 percent committed to our From America, For America employee pricing through June 2," the spokesperson said. "We're not changing the price of any of our existing inventory. Customers have a lot of choices and we have plenty of inventory for them to choose from through June 2."

Of course, any price increases wouldn't impact vehicles already at dealerships, and vehicles produced in May most likely wouldn't arrive at dealers until late June at the earliest. 

Right now, Ford imposts some seriously important vehicles like the Mustang Mach-E, Bronco Sport and Maverick from Mexico. It also ships the Lincoln Nautilus to dealers in the U.S. from China. Unless production is moved or Trump says "never mind" to these tariffs, you can expect pricing increases on all of these models — especially the Nautilus.

Volkswagen says it plans to maintain current prices on new models through at least the end of May. It's a slight reversal from a statement last month that said it was prepared to place a tariff surcharge on all imported models.

The German automaker brings in three key vehicles from Mexico: the Jetta, Taos and Tiguan (which is VW's best-selling vehicle in the U.S.). All three are currently compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, but Trump's tariffs are poised to upend all of that. It also builds the ID Buzz, Golf GTI and Golf R in Germany and the ID 4, Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport in Chattanooga, Tennessee. From Automotive News:

"We have to protect and care for our customers, we have to protect and care for our dealers, for our own business, as well as our suppliers," Kjell Gruner, VW Group of America CEO, said during an April 16 roundtable here at the New York auto show.

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Gruner said U.S. customers are tracking the impact of the tariffs and asking many questions. The U.S. new-vehicle market capped a solid first quarter with a surge in late March as consumers rushed to make purchases ahead of the tariffs.

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Gruner said VW is monitoring the impact of the tariffs with the Trump administration as well as the market.

VW continues to ship vehicles, Gruner confirmed .

Back in April, VW told its dealers that it planned an "Added Import Fee" on impacted vehicles once these tariffs went into effect. So far, that fee hasn't been added, because the automaker needs to see "where tariffs are." Gruner says that if the tariffs go away, so does the discussion.

He also added that Volkswagen cannot absorb the full costs of the tariffs by itself because the "amount per vehicle is just too high." Because of that, VW is weighing how much needs to be added to cost and customer pricing.

China has banned automakers from using the terms "smart driving" and "autonomous driving" in vehicle advertisements. The new mandate was delivered by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in a meeting with nearly 60 automaker representatives earlier this week. The move follows a fatal accident involving an Xiami SU7 sedan in March that triggered widespread concern over vehicle safety technology. Preliminary findings show the car caught fire after hitting a cement roadside pole at 60 mph just seconds after the driver took control of the vehicle's ADAS system.

Under the updated rules, automakers can no longer test and improve their ADAS software through over-the-air updates without approval. They're now required to carry out enough tests to verify reliability to get approval from the government before a rollout can begin. From Reuters: 

The regulatory move comes as automakers have been rushing to launch new models equipped with ADAS, touting the "smart driving" capability as a key selling point to battle a brutal price war that has extended into the third year in the world's largest auto market.

BYD escalated the competition in February when it rolled out at least 21 affordable models priced from less than $10,000 that are equipped with free "smart driving" features. Many of its peers including Leapmotor and Toyota followed suit, introducing affordable vehicles with similar features.

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The regulators are also tightening regulations on EV battery standards, aiming to reduce risks of fire and explosions.

While this might sound like a good idea — and something the U.S. would almost certainly never do — some industry analysts aren't so sure it's a good idea. They've said that stricter regulations would increase costs and slow the pace of technology development and adoption. 

I understand that most people in the tech sector have a "move fast and break things" mindset, but I feel like taking this sort of stuff a bit slower and making sure it's actually safe before it's used on human Guinea pigs is generally a good thing to do.

Oh, Ford. Here we are again. The automaker is recalling nearly 150,000 vehicles in the U.S. in two separate recalls, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

Ford is recalling 123,611 2017-18 F-150s, Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators because of a fluid leak that could drastically reduce braking performance and increase stopping distance. To remember the issue, dealers are going to replace impacted parts like the master cylinders or brake booster free of charge. This isn't the only recall though, as Reuters explains:

Separately, Ford is calling back 24,655 of its 2025 Explorer vehicles as a powertrain control module (PCM) may reset while driving, which can damage the vehicle's park system or cause an engine stall, according to the regulator.

Dealers are expected to fix the software issue free of charge, with owners receiving notification letters by May 26.

Man, sometimes it really feels like Ford cannot get out of its own way when it comes to spending money on fixing the cars it already sold. Maybe one day it'll get that issue under control, but today isn't that it.

On this day in 1964, Ford unveiled the very first Mustang to the world at the World's Fair in New York. As I'm sure you know, it has been an icon ever since. Here's more on its early days from History.com:

That same day, the new car also debuted in Ford showrooms across America and almost 22,000 Mustangs were immediately snapped up by buyers. Named for a World War II fighter plane, the Mustang was one of the first vehicles that came to be known as a "pony car." Ford sold more than 400,000 Mustangs within its first year of production, far exceeding sales expectations.

The Mustang was conceived as a "working man's Thunderbird," according to Ford. The first models featured a long hood and short rear deck and carried a starting price tag of around $2,300. Ford general manager Lee Iacocca, who became president of the company in October 1964 (and later headed up Chrysler, which he was credited with reviving in the 1980s) was involved in the Mustang's development and marketing. The car's launch generated great interest. It was featured on the covers of Newsweek and Time magazines and the night before it went on sale, the Mustang was featured in commercials that ran simultaneously on all three major television networks.

Folks, if this song isn't a recession indicator, then I don't know what is. Sure, all of our (admittedly, very little) money is about to disappear, but at least we'll have bops like this to listen to on the way down.