The Tariff Playbook, Ford Counters With Employee Pricing, Tesla Deliveries Dip

Episode #1008: Cars Commerce drops a no-nonsense playbook for dealers while Ford rolls out employee pricing for all as tariffs loom large. Meanwhile, Tesla’s Q1 delivery miss raises red flags far beyond a Model Y changeover. 

Show Notes with links:

• In a sweeping trade policy shift, Donald Trump announced a baseline 10% tariff on all imports; plus an additional 10–50% "reciprocal" tariff targets 60 nations with major U.S. trade deficits.
  • Auto imports already under last week's 25% tariff won’t face increases and Mexico and Canada are exempt—if goods comply with the 2020 USMCA terms.
  • Brian Kramer of Cars Commerce released a Tariff Playbook to help dealers navigate the changes. Here’s some of the highlights:
    • Consumers are rushing to buy and scrutinizing where vehicles are built—use the Cars.com American-Made Index to guide inventory and messaging.
    • EVs could see a short-term slump; hybrids and full-size trucks may surge. Align your lot accordingly.
    • Six actionable strategies: reduce auction dependency, boost service-lane sourcing, go data-driven, ditch 45-day-old metrics, market American-made units, and build an offense-focused plan.
    • “You won’t lose profit because the market adjusted. You will lose profit because your process didn’t,”

• Ford is throwing open the gates to its employee discount program, offering deep savings to all customers through June 2 as a preemptive strike against rising costs from newly announced import tariffs.
  • The “From America, For America” campaign unlocks A Plan pricing—typically below dealer invoice—on most Ford and Lincoln models, with high-performance Raptors, new Expeditions, Super Duty trucks, and Lincoln Navigators being excluded.
  • Discounts stack with other deals, including extended free EV charger installation now running through June 30.
  • The announcement came just hours after President Trump enacted 25% tariffs on imported vehicles, which could significantly increase consumer prices.
  • Ford’s imported models include the Maverick, Bronco Sport, Mustang Mach-E (from Mexico), and Lincoln Nautilus (from China). 
  • “It’s a way to give back to the communities that have supported us for generations,” said Rob Kaffl, Ford’s U.S. sales director, adding the move brings “certainty to an uncertain situation.”

• Tesla’s Q1 2025 delivery numbers are in—and they’ve landed with a thud. The EV giant delivered 336,681 vehicles, missing expectations by up to 55,000 units and raising tough questions about demand.
  • Deliveries fell 13% year-over-year and a sharp 32% from Q4 2024.
  • Tesla cited Model Y factory changeovers as a factor, but analysts see deeper demand issues—especially in the U.S.
  • Model 3 sales in Europe dropped 30% in early 2025, despite not facing supply issues.
  • “The ramp of the New Model Y conti

Join hosts Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.

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Transcript

Paul J Daly: 0:01

One day, I'll get the button right. It is Thursday, April 3, wild night of storms. A lot of places in the country, but this is the automotive State of the Union. I'm Paul J Daly. This is Kyle Mountsier. Today we're talking about, you know, say the magic word Kyle. It's the T word, big T word,

Kyle Mountsier: 0:19

Paris. Yeah. Yesterday, we had the tariff Sheriff on. Today, we got the tariff playbook tomorrow, and then we're talking about the other T word, Tesla, Tesla tariffs,

Paul J Daly: 0:31

and Tesla tariffs. And, oh, we missed the chance there Tesla tariffs. And I'm not gonna get there.

Kyle Mountsier: 0:38

I don't know it

Paul J Daly: 0:40

temporary pricing, temporary oh my gosh, that's why he's the producer with tariffs and temporary pricing. That actually is what this show should be called today. That's the title he's typing it in right now. That's so funny. Nathan's reminding me to keep myself on. Do Not Disturb Because apparently, on the podcast version, some of you hear the stupid, insane inbound that I've just learned to ignore, not even here in my ears, but apparently it was coming through on the podcast recording. So sorry.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:10

Thanks for your patience. Thanks, I swear for your ears. Yeah, you

Paul J Daly: 1:13

know, people want people want answers. Kyle, people want answers. Hey, there's a great place to get answers. That's right. You know, it's coming up too. You share with you share an infographic today that you made basic basically, with our trained GPT about ASOTU CON, and

Kyle Mountsier: 1:28

it was unbelievable, like I so, you know, obvious, it's, it's no secret that we use AI around ASOTU. If we didn't, if we didn't, we wouldn't be able to accomplish what we do. And also we wouldn't be be staying ahead of the curve so that we can introduce you to some of these new things. But we've been training a GPT about the entirety of ASOTU CON for a long time, a long time. It knows everything. And I just, I just thought this morning, I was like, drop me in an infographic. I didn't ask it. I didn't give it any specifics. I said, Give me an infographic about why come to ASOTU CON, and it just like, and what's really cool about it is it reminded me, like, oh, we really do emphasize people. Because it emphasized people through the entire thing. And I that was, that was the most fun. It wasn't like, you're gonna hear all these sessions now, you're gonna get all these sessions, but it's real people that are doing the job right now, talking about it, hey, talking about the job that people are doing. We've got pitch tank, and the submissions are flowing in. We've only got about a week left to submit. If you are a startup, or you've created something innovative in your business, and you want to pitch it to a room full of dealers and investors and industry partners, you can go to ASOTU CON, com, forward slash, pitch tank, throw your video there. The judges are waiting. They want to see it, and we'll get nine of you out to

Paul J Daly: 2:54

ASOTU CON. Oh, that's a beautiful thing. I love, I love this. This season. This is where, like all the adrenaline starts flowing. We are 39 days away, I believe, no, this is when people actually start, like, really making decisions. A bunch of speakers confirmed yesterday. We got some auto news, 40 under 40 showing up in this from this point forward, it is like, literally, like you've made, you've walked to the top of the water slide, and now you sit down in the lifeguards like you can go, now you can go, and the floor drops down, and we're off and running. I wish the infographic wasn't ready to share, but like, listen, we're talking like six to 700 of your peers. There upwards 300 plus dealers, decision makers, some of the most innovative tech partners, talking about the innovative things. And listen, we're not just talking about the people who are selling and communicating. We're talking about product people are going to be there to answer your question. So if a user, a power user, come up, talk to them. There's some new some new people that you probably want to meet, some new sponsors that you we've been talking a lot about, you've been hearing a lot about, such as Amazon autos team is going to be there. I know people have questions, so meet them in person, right? It's the best way to figure out what's going on. So go to ASOTU CON com. The speakers list in the agenda are being added to and filled out every day, because we like to, you know, kind of, kind of keep it real and keep it relevant. Because no one even said the word tariff, like, 60 days ago, 30 days ago, maybe 60 goes, definitely not. And then, like, at nada. Like, did you even hear that?

Kyle Mountsier: 4:29

No, not. Well, there was a little bit of nada, but not, not much, not much whatsoever.

Paul J Daly: 4:35

It's so there you go, a soda con presented by Reynolds and Reynolds and Google goo. Thank you so much to our friends that helped us make it happen, but now there's a lot going on. You need some updates, so let's get let's get into it a little summary, right? We need some summarization, because there's a lot of things going on out there, but President Trump announced a baseline 10% tariff on all imports yesterday, plus an additional 10 to 50% in recent. Tariffs targeting 60 nations with the biggest US trade deficits, meaning they tariff US products. More than us tariffs their products, or sometimes not at all. So President Trump saying we're going to level the playing field. Auto imports already under last week's 25% tariff, which we talked about last week. They're not facing any additional increases in Mexico and Canada, so as long as the goods comply with the 2020, usmca terms, Brian Kramer of cars commerce released a tariff playbook. We had a great little kind of like emergency session. It's on our LinkedIn page. You can go to ASOTU on LinkedIn, and you can see it's one of our most recent posts. It's also linked in the show notes. Actual playbook is linked in the show notes. So basically did a little summary on best practices, because that's really what everyone needs to know. Not necessary. Yes, where we're going, but what can I do and what should I be doing today? Basically here a couple points from that consumers are rushing to buy and scrutinizing where vehicles are built. So the cars.com American made index guide really helps you be selective on which inventory discount and your messaging. He said a lot of people laminate it and put it in the sales tower. What a practice. Yeah, why not? EVs could see a short term slump hybrids and full size trucks, actually may, you may see a surge in sales, so align your lot accordingly. Some other actionable strategies, reduce your auction dependency, boost your service Lane sourcing, pay attention to the data and ditch the 45 day metrics. As far as what you're you know what you're should be pricing and buying at, and obviously market your American made units like front and center, because that's what's in everybody's head. Yep, yep. Last, last comment. Kyle, I know you have a lot to say about, like, a lot of these things, but there's so much hearing comments. Um, so many comments. But, uh, here, here's a great quote that he put at the end of this report. Says you won't lose profit because the market adjusted. You will lose profit because your process didn't.

Kyle Mountsier: 7:00

Yeah, this is this. Look, if you, if you think this is going to be any more impactful than the initialization of COVID, then you've gone crazy, right? Remember, we've been through things like this before as an industry, and we've come out just fine. Also, y'all Auto is in literally everybody's living room, tick tock account, Instagram, scroll, news feed, email, newsletter. Every single person in this country is getting inundated with this so, like it's it's very akin to the like I bought a Honda. Now I see all the Hondas I see about auto now I'm thinking about my new car. Literally. My aunt messaged me last night from an Instagram reel that I shared, and was like, I just started thinking about maybe buying a new car because of all of this, right? She wasn't in the market. Wasn't thinking about it. It's just awareness drives intent, and so you are going to have an opportunity to capitalize on it, as long as your people are well enough educated and have the talk tracks to take care of it. Don't Don't sleep on this moment and opportunity. I would call this more of an opportunity than a detractor to the industry. And my guess is that this is actually going to drive sales pace up even as tariff looms, and even if pricing drives higher, we're going to be fine. Speaking

Paul J Daly: 8:27

of opportunities seizing, for throwing open the gates to its employee discount program offering deep savings to all customers through June 2 as a pre emptive strike against rising costs from newly announced tariffs. Wow from America. For America campaign launched yesterday as tariffs were being announced. Brilliant move. Campaign unlocks a plan pricing, basically this is typically one to $2,000 below invoice for everyone on most Ford and Lincoln models with some high performance exclusions, like raptors, super duties, etc. Discounts are stacking on top of other deals, including extending, extended free EV charger installation. Now running all this running now through June 30, it came just hours after the president enacted 25% tariffs on imported vehicles. Their imported models include the maverick Broncos, sport Mustang Mach E from Mexico, and the Lincoln Nautilus from China. Forge us. Sales Director rod careful said, quote, it's a way to give back to the communities that have supported us for generations. The move brings us certain certainty to an uncertain situation. I heard this, and I was like, so smart, you're going to see

Kyle Mountsier: 9:39

a lot of manufacturers coming up with this over the next two days now that everything came out strong. Ford was obviously prepared for it. Had the had the notice ready. It was like, are we on, are we off? Are we on? Are we off? We're on. Let's go. And so they were, they were, they jumped right on it. But I'm sure you're going to see multiple of these types of incentive programs just to keep this you know, like. I said just just a second ago, the OEMs are looking at consumers. We're looking at shopping behavior increase, Google searches increase. I've looked at a few marketing data points where we're seeing people just get into the market, yeah, and so the OEMs are going to rush to capitalize on that. So watch for these incentive changes. Make sure your team's aware of them, right? Because

Paul J Daly: 10:17

you think of what this actually does from a brand marketing standpoint. Number one, I think people naturally associate for with a whole like all American made, right? Ford, all American f1 50, blah, blah, blah. So Ford is taking all those people you said were now in consideration mode, in intent mode, and it's saying, like, okay, there's going to be a rush. How can I grab disproportionately the market share? About being the first one planted in their head, that my vehicle is going to be the cheapest and not affected by all these tariffs. So I better get them. Why? Why they can Wow. James Cancer, actually, this is a great this is a great comment. Great comment, um. James ganther, Founder, CEO of Mosaic compliance, says to understand tariffs, understand Brenton woods and its overdue disassembly. We don't understand that, but I know that you do. But basically, here's the part we can all understand. We're changing global paradigms. It will be complicated and messy, but we'll all be better when it's over, which I believe will be sooner than many fear, right? Yeah, the pace of turnaround on this will be, will be so high, the only thing to fear is fear itself. But I mean, we're definitely, we're definitely in a messy one, that's for sure. Yep, speaking

Kyle Mountsier: 11:19

of a messy one. Oh yeah. Segue,

Paul J Daly: 11:24

the 13 q1

Kyle Mountsier: 11:26

has been messy for Tesla and their q1 2025, delivery numbers are in, and they've landed with a resounding thud. The E V giant delivered 336,000 vehicles, just over that missing expectations by up to 55,000 units and raising tough questions about demand. Deliveries fell 13% year over year, and a sharp 32% from q4 when Tesla was kind of all the rage, and they were, everybody was looking at Elon and his success with the, you know, with Trump, Tesla side of model Y, factory changeovers as a factor. But analysts see deeper demand issues, especially in the US model three sales in Europe dropped 30% in early 2025 despite not facing supply issues. So it's global demand issue, not just a US demand issue. Tesla claimed the ramp up of the new model Y continues to go well, so we'll see. I think, man, it's gonna be interesting the way q2 shakes out for them, because all the energy started kind of like mid q1 and we'll see if that demand energy is because of the public persona of Elon right now.

Paul J Daly: 12:33

I mean, it's certainly, it certainly isn't helping when, right? You know, cars are getting keyed, your dealerships are being fire bomb, your charging infrastructure is being lit on fire. And just, I think the general thing that happens, like, in this mob mentality, it spills out. So you, even if you have no, like, political, you know, reason to think about, you just start to think about, like, I'm just gonna stay away from that. Like, just, just subconsciously, right? So it's very hard to get anything through there. Well,

Kyle Mountsier: 13:02

yeah, because do you want your car keyed or set on fire when it's sitting in Nicole's parking lot? No, not a chance. No.

Paul J Daly: 13:08

And I think that will go it always, you know, the mob always changes its focus at some point to something else. But they did. They did say one, one thing that's not in the show notes, is they, they touted that they were the number one selling vehicle, the model wise, number one selling vehicle in China. And I think it was March, which everyone was like, Oh, okay. And so, like, they were offering 0% interest and things like that. So they had, like, a little bit of an upside, but they definitely have a hard road ahead of them, just for a number of factors. And you know, when people are lighting your your companies on fire, your buildings on fire. It's never good. It's going to be I mean, but the flip side is, like, there. I mean, Tesla, by far, makes the most EVs in the US. Like, they make them. They make the batteries here, they make the cars here, they manufacture them here. So it really is, like, one of the most American made vehicles. It could be a turn. I mean, there's been bunch of graphics

Kyle Mountsier: 14:00

showing that. So, yeah, it could be a turn for them in q2 it's so, so interesting, so interesting. I know. I know. Well, look, thank

Paul J Daly: 14:07

you everybody for being here with us along with the ride. We love being in the fight with you every single day. If we could do anything to help you, if you hear any good news, hit us with it. Crew@asotu.com but we hope to be with you at ASOTU CON. Get your tickets. You keep coming up.