By BEN SHIMKUS, CONSUMER REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Tariffs are about to make buying a car more expensive — and Ford just put a number on it.
The automaker expects to pay $2.5 billion in tariffs to the federal government over the next year thanks to President Donald Trump’s new levies on imported vehicles and foreign-made parts.
Consumer advocates have warned tariffs will increase new vehicle and insurance costs, but until now car companies have been vague about the impact on price.
That changed this week, as Ford broke down the projected impact during its earnings report — offering one of the clearest glimpses yet at how much of that burden could fall on buyers.
The company says it plans to offset around $1 billion of the tariff costs through accounting changes and adjustments to vehicle pricing.
Spread across the 2.08 million vehicles Ford sold in the US last year, DailyMail.com calculates buyers can expect around $480 tacked onto the price of each car.
That ballpark figure will vary depending depending on the model, its supply chain, and further policy changes from the White House.
But the message is clear: some of the added cost is expected to land on buyers, even for some of the most American-made cars on the planet.
Ford estimates that it will spend $2.5 billion on tariffs annually
Ford says the remaining $1.5 billion in tariffs will be absorbed by the company itself, cutting into profits.
The automaker pulled its 2025 financial guidance this week, citing policy uncertainty and the risk of supply chain disruptions.
'There's a number of things that we are working through,' Ford's CFO, Sherry House, said during the earnings call, noting potential impacts from both customer behavior and regulatory shifts.
'It’s the policy issues that we had alluded to — the clarification of how some of these are landing, as well as some uncertainty associated with tax and emission policy.'
Despite the high tariff price, Ford appears to bein a stronger position than its competitors.
More than 80 percent of the vehicles it sells in the US are assembled domestically, in plants across Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky, and Ohio.
That keeps its exposure to vehicle import tariffs lower than rivals like General Motors, which recently said it expects to face $4 billion to $5 billion in tariff-related costs.
Ford has highlighted its American production advantage by offering a massive sales event: it's offering employee pricing to all US consumers until July 4.
Ford's CEO, Jim Farley, said the company is reliant on parts suppliers in other countries because the US doesn't make enough carpets and fasteners for the company's assembly lines
The Blue Oval beat Wall Street's profit expectations for the first quarter, but the company pulled its earnings guidance for the rest of the year
Ford has a sprawling production footprint in the US, assembling 80 percent of its products in America
Still, Ford CEO Jim Farley has acknowledged the company’s dependence on foreign parts. In a recent interview, he pointed out the limited availability of components like fasteners and carpeting in the US.
Ford purchases the parts from other manufacturers. They're individually subject to 25 percent tariffs under the current tax regime.
Ford's foreign parts struggles highlight how automakers are still struggling to interpret the broader strategy behind the tariffs.
Trump has alternated between using them as leverage in trade negotiations and positioning them as a way to spur more domestic manufacturing.
At the same time, he has criticized federal incentives for electric vehicle adoption — raising questions about what tools, if any, the government plans to use to support the industry.
Many automakers have invested billions of dollars in US EV battery capacity, as global automakers prepare for an automotive future that looks unquestionably electric.
Executives told DailyMail.com that these uncertainties have left multiple manufacturers in the dark: they don't know what to ask customers to pay for their cars.
A Ford representative didn't immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.