Caijing News reported on April 16 (Reporter Zhang Yipeng) that the "tariff war" initiated by the USA has been ongoing for several days, and its impact on imported luxury brands originating from the USA is beginning to accelerate noticeably.

On April 15, a sales representative from a BMW 4S store in Peking told Caijing News that, according to the latest notice, due to the impact of the "tariff war," several BMW brand imported vehicles originating in the USA, including the BMW X7, will only sell existing stock. Prices remain unaffected, but if ordering a non-existing vehicle, the delivery time cannot be guaranteed. "If one insists on ordering a non-existing vehicle, it's not impossible, but it requires at least an additional 0.3 million yuan, and the waiting time is no less than six months and could be up to a year."

After visiting several 4S stores that sell luxury imported vehicles originating in the USA, Caijing News reporters found that there are many similar instances of "giving up or pausing" imports.

"Model S and Model X are no longer accepting orders. What will happen in the future is hard to say. We have calculated that to continue selling, prices would need to increase by at least 30%, making them completely uncompetitive, so now we can only check the inventory for existing stock." A Tesla store sales representative stated.

Five days ago, on April 11, the Tesla China official website showed that Model S/X no longer provides a separate option to "order a new vehicle," and only a "view stock" button is visible on the respective model pages.

Subsequently, on April 14, in response to rumors that "General Motors' high-end imported vehicle platform, Cadillac, has suspended accepting new orders in China," General Motors China responded that the market environment is changing rapidly, so a payment of an intention deposit expresses a willingness to purchase, but does not constitute a vehicle purchase agreement. "Currently, the prices from various channels are reference prices, not including all related taxes and fees, and are not the final selling price." General Motors China also stated that the Tahoe and Yukon will be delivered gradually, and interested customers can pay intent deposits.

Besides "closing the order window," another common practice currently in the terminal market for imported vehicles from the USA is "direct price increases."

According to a sales representative from a Mercedes-Benz 4S store, the recent "tariff war" is the fundamental reason for the price increase of some models. The GLE 350 model is produced in Germany, so its price has not been affected, but the GLE 450 model is produced in the USA, so its price has been raised by about 0.02-0.03 million yuan.

Another Lincoln 4S store stated that the 2024 Navigator model has not been affected, but the 2025 model, which will be released at the end of April, may see a price increase, the extent of which is currently unknown. "We don't know what to do right now, we're still waiting for notification. But it seems that this year will be tough," said an industry insider engaged in the American imported car business.

Compared to imported cars originating from the USA, the industry generally believes that the "tariff war" has minimal impact on current Chinese automotive exports.

Data from the Passenger Car Association shows that China is expected to export only 0.116 million vehicles to the USA in 2024, which accounts for only 1.81% of China's total automotive exports. Compared to China's commodity export ratio of 14.7%, the obstruction of Chinese automotive exports to the USA has basically no impact on China's automotive exports.

"Chinese independent brands still have significant potential to increase their market share in many overseas regions," said Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the Passenger Car Association. Chinese cars have virtually no sales in the USA, hence the trade war has little negative impact on Chinese independent brand cars. "There are many opportunities for the overseas expansion of Chinese brands, particularly in countries without an automotive industry, which are quite welcoming to our localization. The overseas market share of Chinese cars has a gap in competitiveness compared to China's automotive products, presenting a huge room for growth."