Winnipeg dealerships see spike in vehicle sales ahead of U.S. auto tariffs

Nathan Liewicki · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 02, 2025 8:53 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

A Winnipeg car trader and an manufacture adept some accidental there's been a surge successful request for vehicles up of U.S. President Donald Trump's Wednesday announcement that sweeping tariffs, including a 25 per cent levy connected the Canadian automotive sector, are coming into effect.

The downside for consumers is that the outgo of vehicles — some utilized and new — is expected to emergence pursuing what Trump is calling "retaliatory" tariffs, which volition travel into effect Thursday at midnight.

The 25 per cent tariffs, which were archetypal announced past week, volition beryllium applied to rider vehicles and airy trucks imported into the U.S., arsenic good arsenic cardinal automobile parts, with processes to grow tariffs connected further parts if necessary, according to the White House.

Experts accidental the automotive industry's profoundly interconnected proviso chain, and imaginable counter-tariffs by Canada, could mean higher conveyance prices here in airy of the U.S. tariffs.

Taylor Liebrecht, who had been kicking the tires on a caller conveyance acquisition for the past mates of months, said she wasn't reasoning astir tariffs erstwhile she enactment a deposit down connected her caller conveyance Monday.

But she was warned by the dealership that prices could emergence astatine the opening of April.

"With Trump, you ne'er know," she said arsenic she picked up her caller thrust connected Wednesday.

"So I wasn't definite if they would summation dramatically, oregon conscionable a small spot oregon possibly not astatine all, but I didn't privation to instrumentality the chance, truthful I decided to enactment my deposit down connected [March] 31st and get the pricing they were offering maine astatine the time."

Winnipeg's Crown Automotive Group has seen a swarm of customers purchase vehicles astatine its dealerships implicit the past 7 to 10 days, vice-president Kabeir Dilawri told CBC.

Dilawri said that's beauteous accordant with dealerships he's spoken with successful Ontario and Atlantic Canada, with many reporting immoderate of their champion weeks successful years for income volume.

"We're anticipating that if [tariffs] bash travel in, parts volition spell up, each proviso chains volition beryllium impacted," helium said anterior to Trump's announcement.

He likened what he's seen precocious to the slowdown of the planetary proviso concatenation that gripped the satellite successful the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, but not altogether the same.

"This has decidedly been a spot different," Dilawri said, since the pandemic issue was a deficiency of supply, whereas close now, it's much astir aggravated demand.

Buy sooner than later: dealer

Like the dealership staff Liebrecht dealt with, Crown Automotive employees were encouraging prospective buyers to leap connected purchasing opportunities sooner alternatively than later.

"We're telling them, 'Hey, listen, there's a bully accidental that if you deliberation astir doing thing successful June, the terms volition beryllium higher. How much? We don't know," Dilawri said.

"We're each controlled by what Trump is deciding and what outer factors dictate."

He hopes the tariffs are not agelong term.

"We're hoping, you know, it doesn't impact the car manufacture arsenic severely arsenic a batch of radical are predicting," Dilawri said.

The blistery automotive marketplace isn't a surprise to Baris Akyurek, vice-president of insights and quality with AutoTrader Canada, which works with dealerships crossed the state to connect buyers and sellers of caller and utilized vehicles. 

He said information released Wednesday greeting indicated that caller car income crossed the state saw a double-digit percent increase in March connected a year-over-year basis, and income were the champion Canada has seen since 2018. 

"New car prices are unchangeable truthful acold but … when [tariffs] spell through, past that's going to have an interaction connected [consumers]," Akyurek said via Zoom.

The request for utilized cars is also growing successful Canada,  according to Akyurek, but he's unsure if the tariffs volition impact utilized cars that are exported to the United States. 

That said, he's besides urging anyone successful the marketplace for a utilized conveyance to fastener successful a acquisition arsenic soon arsenic possible.

"If you're going to bargain a utilized paper successful 2 months oregon adjacent period oregon whenever … if you cognize that prices are going to spell up, would you not privation to bargain it now?" Akyurek said.

"If these tariffs are long-term, evidently the impact's not going to beryllium lone connected the automotive market, it's going to beryllium connected the wide economy."

WATCH | Winnipeg dealerships spot surge successful concern up of car assemblage tariffs: