Latest news with #PrasSubramanian
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Ford leads sales gains in May as employee price cuts offset Trump's tariffs... for now
Automakers led by Ford (F) saw big sales gains in May as price cuts and shedding inventories blunted the effect of President Trump's auto tariffs. The question is how long they can maintain pricing in lieu of trade deals, which have been elusive. Ford reported sales jumped 16.3% in May to just under 221K units, the automaker's best May since 2019 and the third straight month of sales gains. Truck sales surged 16% compared to a year ago, led by F-series pickups, Ranger midsize pickups, and the Maverick compact pickup, which moved over 15K units, a new sales record. Ford's hybrid sales jumped 29% to nearly 23K units, a new sales record as well. The only down note was the F-150 Lightning EV, which saw sales drop 42%, leading Ford's overall EV sales to fall 25%. The company's SUV sales—which include the Bronco, Bronco Sport, Explorer, and Expedition — all saw big gains as well. Ford rode its employee pricing plan scheme, which offered big discounts to all buyers starting on May 1, to great effect. The carmaker likely took market share from rivals GM (GM) and Stellantis (STLA), which opted not to use the so-called employee discount plans. GM and Stellantis do not report monthly sales. But Ford is now hiking prices on the popular Maverick, Mustang Mach-E, and Bronco Sport by as much as $2,000, as these models are made in Mexico and subject to the 25% auto tariffs, though USMCA—qualifying cars can have the value of US-made parts backed out. Korean stalwarts Hyundai (HYMTF) and Kia ( also reported sales gains in May. Hyundai reported sales rose 8% to 84,521 units, while Kia sales jumped 5% to 79,007 units. Hyundai said SUVs like the Tucson, Santa Fe, and Palisade set May sales records, with Kia claiming the same for the Telluride and Sportage SUVs, as well as the Carnival minivan and K4 sedan. Hyundai kept its sales momentum going by freezing prices through June 2 in response to tariffs and offering price cuts on certain models. Kia cut the price of its EV9 SUV by moving production to its plant in Georgia. Despite the gains registered by Ford, Kia, and Hyundai, the problem remains that tariffs are still in place. Ford projects that tariffs will hit full-year EBIT profits by $1.5 billion, while GM claims its profits could drop by as much as $5 billion without mitigating efforts. This story is developing. Honda and Toyota will report sales later today. Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Ford leads sales gains in May as employee price cuts offset Trump's tariffs... for now
Automakers led by Ford (F) saw big sales gains in May as price cuts and shedding inventories blunted the effect of President Trump's auto tariffs. The question is how long they can maintain pricing in lieu of trade deals, which have been elusive. Ford reported sales jumped 16.3% in May to just under 221K units, the automaker's best May since 2019 and the third straight month of sales gains. Truck sales surged 16% compared to a year ago, led by F-series pickups, Ranger midsize pickups, and the Maverick compact pickup, which moved over 15K units, a new sales record. Ford's hybrid sales jumped 29% to nearly 23K units, a new sales record as well. The only down note was the F-150 Lightning EV, which saw sales drop 42%, leading Ford's overall EV sales to fall 25%. The company's SUV sales—which include the Bronco, Bronco Sport, Explorer, and Expedition — all saw big gains as well. Ford rode its employee pricing plan scheme, which offered big discounts to all buyers starting on May 1, to great effect. The carmaker likely took market share from rivals GM (GM) and Stellantis (STLA), which opted not to use the so-called employee discount plans. GM and Stellantis do not report monthly sales. But Ford is now hiking prices on the popular Maverick, Mustang Mach-E, and Bronco Sport by as much as $2,000, as these models are made in Mexico and subject to the 25% auto tariffs, though USMCA—qualifying cars can have the value of US-made parts backed out. Korean stalwarts Hyundai (HYMTF) and Kia ( also reported sales gains in May. Hyundai reported sales rose 8% to 84,521 units, while Kia sales jumped 5% to 79,007 units. Hyundai said SUVs like the Tucson, Santa Fe, and Palisade set May sales records, with Kia claiming the same for the Telluride and Sportage SUVs, as well as the Carnival minivan and K4 sedan. Hyundai kept its sales momentum going by freezing prices through June 2 in response to tariffs and offering price cuts on certain models. Kia cut the price of its EV9 SUV by moving production to its plant in Georgia. Despite the gains registered by Ford, Kia, and Hyundai, the problem remains that tariffs are still in place. Ford projects that tariffs will hit full-year EBIT profits by $1.5 billion, while GM claims its profits could drop by as much as $5 billion without mitigating efforts. This story is developing. Honda and Toyota will report sales later today. Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How Ford, Kia, automakers are approaching pricing amid tariffs
American automaker Ford (F) revealed that May sales rose 16% year-over-year, illustrating a strong spring season for the car brand. Yahoo Finance senior autos reporter Pras Subramanian breaks down the auto industry's performance under back-and-forth tariff messaging from the Trump administration, also highlighting inventory and pricing strategies from Kia ( Hyundai ( HYMTF), and Porsche ( Read up on the sales declines EV manufacturer Tesla (TSLA) is seeing in European markets. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. We've got monthly sales data from several major automakers including Ford, Hyundai and Kia. Yahoo Finance's senior autos reporter Pras Subramanian has the latest. Pras, let's start off with Ford. You said there was strength by the way across the board, but let's kick it off with Ford. Yes, so far, so far. Big gains by Ford but for how long is is is the question there. So, Ford sales up 16% led by trucks and SUVs. Hybrid surging too, still very popular amongst Ford customers in the US. Uh now Ford introduced employee pricing, uh, right soon soon after the tariffs were announced. Uh, it was seen as sort of a cynical move but they it actually worked. They're eating into market gains, they're getting market gains there through that, that pricing program. Uh, so that's a good move there. Um, the question is how long they can be they can maintain that, right? Price hikes are coming. They've already said models made in Mexico like the Maverick and the Mustang Mach-E you're gonna get price hikes too. So, real quick also the Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia, both doing well. Hyundai up 8%, Kia up 5%. Uh, Hyundai kept pricing the same through June 2nd. Sorry, June 3rd now. So the question is how long are they gonna make are they gonna raise prices? Are they gonna keep the same? Can they even cut prices? We'll see. And what are you hearing about how these companies are thinking through the price increases when the tariff policy continues to change? I mean, the tariff policy for at least with autos is has been the same. Uh, 2.5% since April 2nd or 3rd. Uh, now countries like the UK had a trade deal where they went to 10%. So that's helping them out. So the the Koreans and and in the USMCA they're waiting for can we get some pricing relief here from tariffs. It hasn't been the case so far. The ink is not yet dry or even wet on any of these deals. That's the big question. So, uh, I think you're right about with with Hyundai and Kia in particular, they're trying to move as much production as they can to the US, and that's a tough move. So, uh, we'll see because right now they're they're probably eating into their profit margins right now, uh, and they but they don't want to lose customers, they want to lose market gains or or some market share here, and that's sort of that balance, right? Is how do I maintain market my market share without destroying my profits? How much of the price increases can they actually pass through? Is it a portion of it? And then how many, you know, percentage-wise? And are some some automakers having a different perspective than others in terms of their their plan here? Yeah, you know, so so for instance, uh, Porsche for instance has said that they want to pass on as much, not they'd want to, but they're going to pass on as much as they can to the the consumer because they have a a product set that people want, right? 911 sports cars are highly desirable. You can maybe pass on a good amount of that tariff uh, price change to them. Cars in a competitive price price set, volume cars, mid-market cars, you can't pass on that much to the consumer because they're gonna get hit by another by another competitor. So that's a problem. And to that end, which automakers stand to potentially use this as an opportunity to eke out market share from competitors by keeping prices low. Does anyone have that luxury? So Ford just just is blowing it out of the water because they're they did that employee pricing, and I heard other automakers complain about that like, "Why are they doing that? I don't understand." This is why they're doing it because they're seeing it as an opportunity to say, "Hey Americans, we're going to help you out here. We know price hikes are coming. We're gonna lower prices for you." And that was a good sort of PR marketing goodwill move by them. Hats off to them for doing that. Other automakers saying, "We might want to preserve our sort of pricing power here and our and our profits here and maybe do that later." And maybe you'll see other automakers follow that in those footsteps, but right now you see the Ford warning at 1.5 billion in lost profits, GM almost potentially 5 billion without mitigation efforts and lost profits. So that's where we're standing. Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Melden Sie sich an, um Ihr Portfolio aufzurufen. Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten Fehler beim Abrufen der Daten
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How Ford, Kia, automakers are approaching pricing amid tariffs
American automaker Ford (F) revealed that May sales rose 16% year-over-year, illustrating a strong spring season for the car brand. Yahoo Finance senior autos reporter Pras Subramanian breaks down the auto industry's performance under back-and-forth tariff messaging from the Trump administration, also highlighting inventory and pricing strategies from Kia ( Hyundai ( HYMTF), and Porsche ( Read up on the sales declines EV manufacturer Tesla (TSLA) is seeing in European markets. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Stellantis picks Antonio Filosa as its new CEO: What to know
Automaker Stellantis (STLA) appoints North American chief operating officer Antonio Filosa as the car company's new CEO, effective June 23. Yahoo Finance senior autos reporter Pras Subramanian joins the program to detail Filosa's background at the company and the inventory, labor, and tariff challenges Stellantis currently faces. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. Big Three automaker Stellantis, owner of brands like Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler, is appointing a new CEO after a months-long search, following the surprise departure of former CEO Carlos Tavares. Here with more details, we've got Yahoo Finance senior autos reporter Pras Subramanian here. All right, Pras, take us into what you've been able to evaluate on this. Yeah, you know, Brad, it took six months to name an insider, which is interesting, but yeah, Antonio Filosa, former Jeep head, current Americas CEO, 25-year veteran of the company, now the new official CEO of Stellantis. So, uh, he was sort of, the writing was on the wall that an internal candidate like him might, might have been selected and, and he was there, but you know, it seems to be a good fit based on his background and based on the brands that he worked at. Now, some of the challenges he faces: a big part of the, of the problem last year was inventory. They had bloated inventory. They've been kind of selling that down, but that's going to hit margins because of, of the price cutting. He's just going to sort of write the ship there, uh, introduce more products that, that people want that don't require, uh, huge discounts. There's also the ongoing labor disputes with the UAW. You know, they have their, their new deal in place, but factories like Belvedere in Illinois where they make, where they make the, uh, some Jeep products have been idled for, for a couple of years. There's a lot of resentment there between the UAW and Stellantis about, uh, some say unfairness or, or, or lack of honesty with regards to what's happening there. He has to sort of fix that as well. And of course, tariffs, right, tariffs are, uh, ongoing there, they're affecting the company. 25% tariffs on, uh, products from Mexico, Canada, and Europe, where Stellantis is based. A lot of those products are coming in from those regions. They have to figure out, how do we boost North American production? And things like that. And also, of course, EV strategy. How do you get that in place here in the country where EVs are still selling highly, but, uh, kind of coming down a bit, and the EV tax rate is sort of under threat. So, we'll see what happens. But a lot on his plate right now for Antonio Filosa. Yeah, and Pras, just about a minute left. What is Wall Street's reaction to the pick so far? Uh, because of the fact that the pick was sort of expected in some regard, uh, we knew that he was a potential candidate. You're seeing a mixed reaction. They're a little down 1%, uh, not nothing, nothing too crazy there for Stellantis. You know, if you would've picked a big outsider, you could have seen a big pop in the stock, but I think, uh, the board kind of feels that an insider right now might be the best choice, uh, considering the company is under a lot of transformation. All right, Pras, we got to leave it there. Thank you so much. Thank you.
