Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 29, 1995 TAG: 9506290081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SHANNON D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Lexus, Infiniti and Acura dealers registered notable sales increases of cars that would have been hit by the proposed tariffs.
Wayne Maddox, owner of Precision Acura and Holiday Mitsubishi in Salem, said he sold three Acura Legends on Tuesday to buyers who were worried about trade sanctions that would have taken effect late Wednesday.
Overall, Maddox noted some additional activity in the past month in Acura Legend sales, the only car in Honda's Acura division threatened by the 100 percent tariffs intended to force Japan to open its markets to U.S. autos and parts.
Sales of Toyota's Lexus and Nissan's Infiniti also increased before agreement was reached between Japan and the United States.
At the Lexus and Infiniti dealerships closest to the Roanoke Valley, consumers feared that Japanese luxury cars would be in short supply if they didn't act fast, said Vic Flow, owner of Flow Lexus in Kernersville, N.C., near Greensboro. Lexus sales rose between 10 and 15 percent in May, a shift Flow believes was created by sanction threats.
At Rice-Marko Infiniti in Greensboro, sales rose as much as 20 percent during the past two months, owner Deborah Rice-Marko said.
"People were trying to get the best selection," she said.
Also, because of anticipated tariffs, those who were in the market for a Japanese luxury car "hurried up the process," she said.
Some of the consumer fear that prices would skyrocket as soon as tariffs were implemented was excessive, Maddox said.
Only the cars that were on U.S. soil by May 20 would have been affected by the tariffs, he said. Two Japanese makers - Honda and Mitsubishi - halted exports of cars to the U.S. after May 20.
The tariffs would have had some impact on prices of cars not affected by the tariffs. Once inventories of those cars began to dwindle, there would be less negotiating on prices, Maddox said.
Now that the threat of tariffs has passed, Japanese luxury car dealers are ready to look ahead. It will be business as usual, Flow said of his Lexus dealership.
However, Rice-Marko is looking to the future with some hesitation.
If the goal of the Clinton administration was achieved, "we welcome it," she said. "But we question if this was the way to achieve it.
"We wonder how constitutional it is for a segment of the population to be singled out," Rice-Marko said about the car industry. "Were we used as a political football through all of this?
"We're sort of looking over our shoulders and asking, 'What's next?'''
by CNB