Tariff Fears Cause 150K Sales In March, Tesla and China, How to Develop Frontline Workers

Automotive State of The Union

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Episode #1015: Today we’re diving into how global tensions are reshaping Tesla’s China strategy, why car buyers rushed showrooms ahead of auto tariffs, and why Harvard says better mentoring might be the secret to fixing retail’s revolving door of turnover.

Show Notes with links:

Tesla has stopped taking orders for its U.S.-made Model S sedans and Model X crossovers in China as trade tensions between the U.S. and China flare up once again.
- China will increase tariffs on U.S. goods to 125% on April 12, including autos.
- Tesla’s Model S and X are built in Fremont, California, making them directly affected.
- The option to order these models disappeared from Tesla's China site in early April.
- Tesla’s Shanghai factory, which makes the Model 3 and Y, isn't affected by the new tariffs.
- Model S and X made up fewer than 2,000 of Tesla’s 661,000+ Chinese sales last year.

A spike in new car sales last month wasn’t just spring fever. According to Cloud Theory, auto shoppers raced to dealerships in March to beat looming tariffs.
- March saw 1.31 million new vehicles sold — a 38% jump from February.
- Cloud Theory attributes 153,000 of those sales to fear of impending price hikes from tariffs.
- Average marketed prices rose $1,123 from late February through March with SUVs, full-size pickups, and heavy duty trucks seeing the most increase — thanks to V8 engines sourced from Canada.
- Discounts and incentives dropped by $432 in March as OEMs braced for higher costs.
- “While this led to very strong results in the short term… the longer-term effects will likely be highly detrimental,” said Cloud Theory’s Rick Wainschel.

A new Harvard study says the key to lowering retail’s notoriously high turnover may be simpler than we think: invest in frontline workers’ career growth and mentorship.
- Researchers found that most low-wage workers actually want to keep their jobs to avoid disruption in their lives — especially once they’re comfortable with their coworkers.
- Over 60% said they’d stay with their employer if they saw a real path to advance, but with many supervisors overseeing up to 20 employees, personalized feedback and coaching are rare.
- Employees often fear asking for promotions or raises, worried it might cost them their jobs.
- A related McKinsey study also showed career development was the top reason non-managers wanted to leave. Their advice? Empower managers — because their impact cascades throughout the whole organization.

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast 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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