When President Trump unveiled his tariff plans on cars and car parts in April, he said, "you’re going to see prices go down." Unfortunately, the reality is different. A new study from Cars.com on dealer inventory in the first half of 2025 indicates that the supply of new cars under $30,000 is slowing down.
The study notes that the under-$30,000 segment is the most exposed to tariffs, as 92% of the models within it are imports. Just two, the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, are built in the US, and even then, some Corolla and Civic variants come from outside the US. In terms of dealer inventory, the segment saw 3.9% growth year over year (YoY), but that lags behind the 5.6% overall increase YoY for new-car inventory.
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