Would you decline delivery of your Ferrari if there is a tariff (US buyers)?

I was wondering, if you have an order coming in from Italy for your Ferrari and it gets hit with a 25% tariff at the port, will you cancel the order and walk away from it or will you pay whatever the tariff is and take delivery? I'm curious what the consensus is from the Ferrari community here.

Trump announced yesterday he would be levying a tariff on the EU. For purposes of the poll, I'll just use 25% tariff rate as the baseline - same as Mexico/Canada tariff going into effect today.

If your car isn't through the US port before any tariff is in place you can add the percentage to your total purchase price. It is about 100% unlikely the dealer or Ferrari NA will eat much, if any, of the tax.

I'm sure the responses will vary based on the exact percentage. For example, many might not choke on the number until it hits a certain percentage which may be lower or higher than the 25%. If so feel free to comment where you might consider walking away from your ordered vehicle.

 

Discussing personal choices due to possible tariffs is fine, but this is a reminder to avoid posting political opinions about possible tariffs.

 

I was wondering if there would be a thread on this. This is a struggle - I specifically sought this out to see how people are thinking about this. The rising paint costs and others are extremely frustrating but whatever, it’s not my first Ferrari and I’d just eat it. But if the price goes up artificially 25% - only to likely go back down by 25% not much later - that would be extremely tough to stomach. Tough enough to consider walking away? … Yeah, maybe.

 

Walk

 

That is exactly why I voted yes.

 

Not even close call. I have three cars on order and all of them would be canceled.

 

I posted a similar poll in BMW forums across all models and the results were nearly identical to the results here for Ferrari with 80% opting to cancel their BMW order if a 25% tariff was levied. I also posted one for Porsche but only for 718 Caymans and that one came in at 62% that would cancel.

I suspect there is a price elasticity that for every 5% drop under 25% you would see the 80% cancel rate in these polls move lower. For every 5% over the 25% tariff baseline, we would see the 80% cancel rate rise. Exactly where those breakpoints and percentages are would require a more granular poll. I suspect for 5% or lower the cancellation rate would be fairly small for all the luxury/exotic brands.

 

If the tariff goes into effect after the car goes into production isn't the buyer on the hook for any difference between the invoice price and what the dealer sells it for?

 

Well I would walk , however who reads those very fine contracts ?

I didn't when I signed for my 488GTB. I would be surprised if it would be impossible to walk away without suffering some monetary loss.

Remember most if not all orders unless they are on the floor have been customized to what you want.

 

I’d for sure cancel because I wouldn’t want to eat $100k+ only for them to be lifted 3 months later. The tariffs will also cause a massive spike in used prices if there is little to no supply of new cars.

 

Oof. My Roma Spider is going into production with a summer delivery ETA

 

If nothing changes cars from the EU will be hit with a 10% tariff in April according to the reciprocity statement from the government.

This is a net 7.5% increase.

Most likely outcome is the EU will reduce their import duty to 2.5% to match the US and avoid the extra cost.

Bill

 

perhaps you are correct but I just read the following this morning that could be more troublesome:

President Trump yesterday announced plans for tariffs "in the neighborhood of 25%" on imported automobiles. He said he’ll probably provide final details on April 2 in an escalating battle against, for example, the 10% duty on vehicle imports into the EU.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/trump-auto-tariff-rate-will-be-around-25-2025-02-18/

 

I read elsewhere they aren't just going to try to match just import "taxes," but also VAT. Now yesterday like you posted 25% on autos...pretty extreme but we'll see if exceptions are made.

 

A lot of water will go under the bridge before the tariffs are implemented and effective.

Most of Trumps comments on 25% auto tariffs have been related to production in Mexico and Canada and are targeted at re-shoring production to the US. For Europe it would be about equal access although pricing out European luxury cars from the market could help in reducing the trade deficit.

My gut tells me the EU will cave and the luxury car segment will not be punished…but I have been wrong many times before.

Bill

 

Let's hope it gets squashed and that your gut is right! Based on the poll here and similar polls I took on the BMW and Porsche forums, the cancellation rate on orders and deliveries declined ranges from 75% to 80% on those brands. We could assume even if it is just 50 to 75 percent of EU imports it will be devastating for the EU and USA auto markets and economies.

There are so many 2nd and 3rd order effects of a sales decline of this magnitude. SA's laid off. Decline in local restaurants and businesses patronized by dealership groups. Detailers and reconditioning outfits. Aftermarket installers (radar, audio, PPF). Owners putting off scheduled maintenance due to price hikes. Shipping revenues dropping. Ports revenue drops from decreased volume. All the upstream suppliers for parts worldwide. Lots more I'm not even naming as the list is quite long once this is gamed out.

Human psychology is such that we can absorb slow price hikes (i.e. 3% inflation) but very rapid & large hikes people do flip out because we are no longer the proverbial frog in the water slowly coming to a boil but instead, we are dumped immediately into the boiling water.

I'm racing against this deadline on one of my inbound EU cars right now (BMW M4) is at the german port about to get loaded on the boat. It's got six weeks to make it to USA and clear customs. Also have a Porsche being built but that will be well past April 2nd delivery. I have been looking at 296's but holding off for now to see where things go with this.

 

I think it's interesting that some of the most fervent supporters of these tariffs have no interest in buying an American-built car.

 

Look, there will not be a 25% tariff, it will remain 2.5% as it is, this is a push to get EU to reform its current 10% tariff on US imports (that is 4x our tariff), the EU is already making moves to set their automobile tariff to match the US 2.5%, that's all this is about, it's not going to happen, a 25% tariff would destroy the EU automobile sector because it heavily relies on exporting new cars to the US

btw, the tariff is on ALL EU automobile imports, that means used cars as well (i.e. you pay 2.5% to import a car from EU, that's the way it has been for decades), so if the 25% tariff would occur it would be on all used cars imported as well, of course you could route them to some other country first to escape that, but not for new cars

 

My 296 is $454k which I'm borderline on now anyways. At another $113,500 (25%) I would for sure pass.

 

Remember, the duty/tariff is borne by the importer, so, Ferrari could always choose to pay for it directly (like they do now, the 2.5% tariff does not show on the window sticker but is likely rolled into the base price) or pass to consumer or a mix of the two, just like all taxes each is borne by manufacturer (like 'gas guzzler tax'), it is then up to the manufacturer if they want to pass it on to the consumer and how (higher base price, line item, etc), the import duty is due at time of importation, not a time of customer sale.

and technically a 25% tariff would result in 22.5% increase since there is already a 2.5% tariff that you forgot about...

 

Sure but what are the odds Ferrari eats 22.5%? Close to zero I imagine.

 

...or a mix of the two...

such as Ferrari eats 10% but not all 22.5%, lots of ways to split, but I believe it will never occur as the intended effect is occurring (EU to drop its import tariff to match USA, i.e. both at 2.5%)

 

I'll speculate here. I think Ferrari's last reported quarter their margins were about 30% and they won't want to give much of that up, if any at all. Maybe as a temporary stop-gap they might eat 5 to 7 percent and have the dealers eat 3 to 5 percent. So at best 8 to 12 percent. I think that will be a tough pill to swallow though for Ferrari and the dealers, but if the consequence of not doing so is losing 50% or more of your order book it is the lesser of the evils.

It will be difficult for the EU to hold the high ground arguing their 10% vs the USA 2.5% is a fair arrangement. But in these national pride public negotiations, you never know what stance politicians will dig into on either side. Let's hope cooler heads prevail and the EU does match the 2.5% USA tariff on autos. Or maybe it will be USA going 10% to match the EU instead of overshooting to 25%. Who knows. No certainty anymore in doing business is now the norm.

Again I am merely speculating to answer the question...

 

From the EU:

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_25_541

Questions and answers Feb 17, 2025 Brussels

Doesn't the US have a point about an asymmetry in tariffs, such as the EU's 10% tariff on cars compared to the US's 2.5% tariff?

Tariff structures vary between economies, with some EU tariffs higher than those of the US and many others lower. Both the EU and the US have equally low tariffs overall.

While the EU applies a 10% Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariff on cars, it's important to note that the US imposes a 25% tariff on pickup trucks (other than those imported from Mexico and Canada) —the largest segment of the US auto market, accounting for about one-third of all vehicle sales. In fact, the best-selling vehicle in the US is a pickup truck, the Ford F-150.

The EU remains open to balanced negotiations that foster a level playing field for both sides.

 

I’m speculating that any tariffs would be welcome news to the US used Ferrari market.