Automotive State of The Union

Tariff Reactions, Tax Deduction for Auto Loan Interest?, Fisker’s Second Life

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Episode #1003: Dealers and analysts react to President Trump’s tariff order, as the administration considers a tax deduction for auto loan interest paid. Plus, Fisker Oceans have found new life as a rideshare fleet in NYC.


Show Notes with links:

  • Trump’s sweeping tariff order is shaking the auto world. The new 25% levy hits nearly all foreign-built vehicles and key components.
    • Analysts predict $4K–$10K price hikes, and Cox Automotive warns that 30% of U.S. vehicle production could be disrupted within a week. 
    • GM stock fell 9%, hit hardest due to its reliance on Mexico and South Korea, Ford and Stellantis were down around 2%
    • Ferrari responded by is raising prices by 10%, up to $350K on some models. 
    • Even Tesla isn’t safe—Elon called the impact “significant” due to global parts sourcing.
    • Michael Wood, GM of JLR Virginia Beach on LinkedIn “This will inadvertently heavily impact a brand that never had jobs here in the first place. The outcome could be disastrous for those working at these stores. Volumes go down, staffs are reduced and displaced.”
    • Rob Malanowski, Internet Director at Ancira Nissan said on LinkedIn “If you’re a car shopper, you will get to choose between: paying more for a non-US built vehicle, paying more for a US built vehicle, deciding you don’t really need a new car right now. Bet we’ll see a ton of people in group 3.”


  • President Trump has proposed a tax deduction for interest paid on auto loans—but only for vehicles made in America. The idea, announced alongside 25% tariffs on imported vehicles, has drawn mixed reactions from dealers and analysts alike.
    • Dealers are split—some say it could help consumers, while others doubt its feasibility.
    • Analysts say the deduction could save buyers around $20 a month, but tariffs could add $60–$90 to payments.
    • Used car prices could rise 9-12% due to increased demand for domestic models.
    • The White House and Speaker Johnson’s office have yet to confirm details, including whether the deduction applies to standard tax filers.
    • “I think it’s Trump’s way of trying to regulate interest rates,” said Ford dealer Nick Anderson, calling it a “pipe dream.”
    • Trump argues the policy will “pay for itself” by increasing U.S. auto production.


  • What happens to thousands of Fisker Oceans after the company goes bankrupt? In New York City, they’re hitting the streets as Uber and Lyft rides, thanks to a fleet operator with a vision and a Bronx repair shop keeping them roadworthy.
    • American Lease bought 3,000 Fisker Ocean EVs for $42.5M, renting them to rideshare drivers.
    • New York City mandates all Uber & Lyft rides be EV or wheelchair-accessible by 2030.
    • BHP Service Center in the Bronx is now the go-to repair shop for these orphaned EVs
    • Shop owner Ronen (“Roni”) is already stockpiling parts, purchasing wrecked vehicles and even making molds for body panels.

Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier

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Paul J Daly:

You know, I gotta get the music right, because it is Friday, March 28 This is the automotive State of the Union. I'm Paul J Daly with Kyle Mountsier today. We're talking about tariffs and tax deductions. And

Kyle Mountsier:

Fisker, we're talking about sure are when they see me, come on now.

Paul J Daly:

Yeah, little weird one little fiscal action in New York City, yes, which, which is pretty applicable. Kind of created my own segue there, because I was in New York City yesterday for a private cars.com dealer event. And so let me, let me explain my day. So wake up at 415 so I can fly to New York City, fly to Newark Airport? Meet with James Orsini, who is, was the COO of Vayner Media, and he was the publicly traded, you know, CEO of Seto mobile, and Sachi. And Sachi, right? This guy is done a couple of two treat things. He literally just rips with wisdom. It's unbelievable. So we meet, which, by the way, is a great place to meet for breakfast. You're flying to Newark Airport. They got a great little breakfast restaurant there. So we just sat and, yeah, really, really good. So I'm there. Have a great breakfast. We had breakfast at like, eight o'clock in the morning or whatever. I was like, I'm always curious in a hotel. Let me walk around this place. Let me see what the conference room is with the museums are not always. Yeah. And what do I run into? None other than the tri state regional Mercedes Benz of America meeting. Wow, I do the thing I gotta, you know, flash the love people morning, love car shirts, and inevitably, I start having conversations. Had a few conversations there. I was really hoping I saw my friend, Greg CEO senior, but because he's a Mercedes dealer, but he wasn't there, I texted him. So excited. Okay, so then drive to Roslyn, New York, which is an hour and a half New York City time, right? I'm just jerky car ride. I'm car sick because I'm trying to work the whole time. And it's, you know, I get myself together. I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna go into this little place called Hendricks tavern. I walk in nice little, you know, it's the part of Long Island. It doesn't feel like New York City anymore. You got trees and hills and, yeah, no, I know everything out there is, like, nice, great, yeah, I passed Brian penstock along the way. I didn't, but he's out there somewhere. I walk in, and it's at this point, it's like, 1130 meeting, from 12 to two. Say the hostess. It's like, Hey, I'm here for the cards.com meeting. And she just stares at me. She goes, That was yesterday. Oh, I know. I know because I was here. Heart sunk. I was never in my life. I mean, I forget details from time to time. I have no idea. I can find it. It was, that was the date. It was on my calendar. And so, of course, I reach out to Juliet cars text her picture. I'm like, I'm here right now. I'm so sorry.

Unknown:

Oh, no.

Paul J Daly:

That is, that's a vibe. So that is a vibe. If I knew we were gonna talk about this thing, adoring me, no idea. Like I'm saying I was just when you and I were slacking and get worked out I was just sitting in an airport lounge, just waiting. No, you wait for the old flight. The good side is I got a lot more work done yesterday than I thought. You got so much work done. There was no one

Kyle Mountsier:

now. You gotta lie with James or see me. You good? Oh, my goodness. The cool thing

Paul J Daly:

is gonna be back hosting a panel for them at one of their events before the New York Auto Show and all that. By the way, I don't know if we're going to that. We have to figure that out. Yeah, I actually was going to ask you about that. We'll talk about that after the podcast. Yeah, okay, so, I mean, look, we're going to be together at a thing. It's called ASOTU CON. We're supposed to talk about it now. We're getting inbound from everywhere about right now, but if you're planning on going, please go get your tickets. Do we have hotel rooms left in the main event? Hotel just a couple two trees. It's getting real tight, so they might be gone by the end of today. So go to ASOTU CON com. You're gonna get your tickets there's cheap as they're gonna be. Get 'em now, book your hotel room. Be there with us. Let me just tell you the swag this year is gonna be nutso popping. All right, let's talk about some news. You know, this was yesterday spilling into today. Still, we have some comments for you from some dealers. Trump. Sweeping tariff order is shaking the world. The new 25% terror levy hits nearly all foreign built vehicles and key components. Analysts are predicting 4000 to $12,000 price hikes. Cox automotive warning that 30% of us, vehicle production could be disrupted within one week. Whoa, that's the crazy part. GM stock fell 9% stellantis, it said that 75% of their profits could go away as a result of these tariffs. Even Tesla is not safe. Elon Musk calling the impact significant due to global parts sourcing. So here's here's what some of our people say. Michael Wood, gm of Jaguar Land Rover in Virginia Beach on LinkedIn said, quote, this will inadvertently heavily impact a brand that never had jobs here in the first place. That's right. The outcome could be disastrous for those working at these stores. Volumes go down. Staff is reduced and displaced. Rob Malinowski, internet. Director at ancient Nissan said on LinkedIn. Quote, if you're a car shopper, you will get to choose between paying more for a non US built vehicle, paying more for a US built vehicle, or deciding you don't really need a car right now, but we'll see a ton of people in group three.

Kyle Mountsier:

Whoa, that's wild. Here's the, you know, the thing that I still have yet to get the answer on is, like, vehicles that are already in the states, like that have crossed the import borders. Like, do we get, like, is that, like, already produced off of lots across the import borders? Like, are they gonna go slap those retro actively or,

Paul J Daly:

like, it'd be really hard, because once that gets through customs and clears, it's like, it's in the country at the price, it's in the country Exactly.

Kyle Mountsier:

So I don't you know, the people saying within one week kind of surprises me. Now it's going to impact the stuff that is coming in this week, which is going to hit ground stock in a couple weeks, three, four weeks, right? But that's where, like, Oh, do you all of a sudden see manufacturers bumping MSRPs, like, at Port, you know, changing those windows. What

Paul J Daly:

did they go into effect on what April 4? Yeah, all right. So,

Kyle Mountsier:

so your ground stock is probably safe, right? Your port stock is probably already safe. And

Paul J Daly:

every captain of every ship in the water is like, can we get it to go anything? We go faster right now, I

Kyle Mountsier:

was into, like, turn on the Jets, bro, when

Paul J Daly:

I landed, I flew over, and then later drove by a big, you know, the one of the big auto lots there, right on the border, and I saw, and all I could, literally, all can think of, is the tariffs, little low, plus 25 we're gonna see

Kyle Mountsier:

how it goes. I know long term plan.

Paul J Daly:

It's not in the show notes, but he did, he did mention leniency right in the thing. And I think most analysts think that the leniency is most likely going to be geared towards our northern and southern neighbors. Yep, that's, you know, probably at this point, probably Mexico over Canada, because they just, they, they like to spat it out right now. Yeah, it's a thing. It really is a thing. Speaking of a thing, tax season. Do you notice it was tax season?

Kyle Mountsier:

I have noticed that everybody's talking about it.

Paul J Daly:

I know President Trump did propose a tax deduction for interest paid on loans for cars, yay. But only for vehicles made in America. The idea announced alongside that 25% tariff on imported vehicles has drawn some mixed reactions from dealers and analysts alike. Dealers are split. They say it could help consumers, while others doubt its feasibility. Like, how are we going to make all this work? Like, how are you going to track it back? It sounds like an admin nightmare. Analysts say the deduction could save buyers around $20 a month, but tariffs could add 60 to $90 to payments. So used car prices could even rise nine to 12% due to the increased demand for domestic models White House speaker and speaker Johnson's office have yet to confirm details, including whether the deduction applies to standard tax filers, probably not if you're on the standard deduction for dealer. Nick Anderson said, quote, I think it's Trump's way of trying to regulate interest rates. Calling it a pipe dream, Trump argues the policy will pay for itself by increasing US auto production.

Kyle Mountsier:

Yeah. I mean, all of this is an effort to increase US auto production. We talked about yesterday, Hyundai, Kyle, general Genesis, already leaning into that, having been leaned into that in the last few years. It's like they saw something coming. You know, this is, I said, I kind of said this as we were segwaying. Here is, you know, short term, short term changes may have long term impact, but they have a significant short, short term, or long term changes have short term impacts. And that's the that's the question of, like, how impactful is this going to be? Can you imagine, right? The tax professional being like, send me your van. Hits the VIN API, sees what the vehicle actually is. I can imagine it. They do wells it up on the list. And then, and then, now, you know how you get your, like, mortgage statement. Every single year you're going to need to have a, you know, all those banks are going to have to send you a vehicle Interest Statement every single year, right? 1098 or whatever. Like, yeah. Like, you're going to have a 1098 before. You know, it's going to be like, 1090

Paul J Daly:

but it's going to be a lot less than your real estate interests, way less, yeah.

Kyle Mountsier:

Like, I can't even imagine, like, you definitely have to be in a place where you are, you know, pulling out the Schedule A, doing itemized deductions for something like this, because it's not a significant amount whatsoever.

Paul J Daly:

No $20 I mean, you know, again, to your point, like, I think it's just trying to really just point everything back to, if we, like, increase US manufacturing and create good paying jobs. It kind of everything else comes along, GDP go, like, all of it. But without a doubt, the biggest question is, is, like, what's the patience that people have for it? Right? Consumers are getting squeezed. And unfortunately, the consumers who are having the hardest time making the payments are getting squeezed, or they're, yeah, I mean, it's gonna be a wild one. I'm just trying to, like, think about, like, well. US cars, domestics are more expensive. Oh, used cars. Used cars are going to get more expensive. It's gonna, you know, Paul, speaking

Kyle Mountsier:

of having a hard time making payments.

Paul J Daly:

I mean, these cars weren't very expensive originally.

Kyle Mountsier:

If you didn't know, Fisker did not make their payments. They went bankrupt. But what happens to 1000s of Fisker oceans after the company goes bankrupt. We covered this story about a year ago, but the full turnaround is now there. In New York City, they are hitting the streets as Uber and Lyft rides thanks to a fleet operator with a vision and a Bronx repair shop. I remember they bought them. Yeah. They bought them. Yeah. So American lease bought these cars little over 3000 Fisker oceans for 42 point 5 million. Definitely a steep discount. It's 13 grand a piece. Yeah, exactly. New York City mandates all Uber and Lyft rides be EV or wheelchair accessible by 2030 so this company's way ahead. Bhp Service Center in the Bronx is now the go to repair shop for these orphaned EVs. Think about the retention on that man. Shop owner Ronnie, is already stockpiling parts, purchase wreck purchasing rec vehicles and even making molds for body panels. This guy's got 3000 cars in the shop every single year, no matter what Come on.

Paul J Daly:

I kind of imagine, you know, when you see, like The Matrix and how everyone like, in the real world, everyone's kind of like, dressed in, like, the the natural, the natural sackcloth fabric, and they have, but they have all this high tech computer stuff around. Like, yeah, I feel like there's a guy in that shot. That's that guy that's for shitting like, the operator, and he's making sure that they don't brick, right? He's writing the software to make sure that those cars can keep like, you know, he's like this, he's like the crazy coffee guy in Syracuse, but for that's exactly what fiscal oceans.

Kyle Mountsier:

Yeah, he's like, cash only, but they're

Paul J Daly:

renting them out for like, 400 a month to Uber drivers. So think about that. I mean, it's like, well, I mean, at 400 a month, you're thinking like, it's though the car will be paid off in two years. I mean, it's still you, you're still putting a that was a big bet to bet. It's about they're gonna

Kyle Mountsier:

be fine. I hope it's just smart. I wish I was. I think it's a lot of cars that's kind of pencil

Paul J Daly:

3000 as long as they keep from breaking, though they're in good shape, there you go. Wouldn't that be something? I know that's just the fun, this fun, this of the story in the city,

Kyle Mountsier:

Fridays and the industry Fridays on Fridays.

Paul J Daly:

Listen. Thank you so much, especially to all of those who were with us for our 1,000th episode. This is now the automotive State of the Union podcast on Paul Daly's Kyle Mountsier, we'll see you tomorrow.

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