Automakers are halting price increases this month after government pressure.

Two of the country's leading automakers, Ford and Toyota, announced that they will either not implement price increases in May or will do so at levels well below the previous month's inflation , while also absorbing the costs incurred by the lifting of the exchange rate controls.

These are two companies that own several of the country's best-selling models (Toyota leads the way, with nearly 35,000 brand-new vehicles registered in the first four months of the year, while Ford is in fifth place, with 16,000 units). They announced this commercial decision after Economy Minister Luis Caputo issued a strong warning on Wednesday, in a tone and format very similar to the one he had used two weeks earlier with supermarket suppliers, when the new exchange rate band that replaced the currency controls was introduced.

With the introduction of the new exchange rate scheme, which entailed a devaluation of the peso of between 8% and 9%, Caputo was very active on social media monitoring price developments.

Two weeks ago, he posted on his X account that supermarket chains had rejected increases of between 9% and 12% on Unilever and Molinos products.

And this Wednesday, Caputo announced that he was willing to use "tools" to "defend the consumer" against a possible price increase by the automaker Stellantis. This followed a post on the same social network by journalist Horacio Alonso, who reported that the automaker, which owns the Peugeot, Fiat, and Citroën brands, would increase the price of its models by an average of 3.5% starting May 1.

Caputo tagged that post and wrote: "I don't think so. If it were true, it would be a change in the relationship of trust built with this industry ." He added: "If that trust, which took so long to build, is broken, we will use our tools to defend consumers."

Stellantis' response was swift: Stellantis' chief commercial officer, Pablo García Leyenda, said they had not yet confirmed the price increases .

"The May list has not yet been finalized," García Leyenda responded to a query from Clarín. "The company's policy is always to wait until the close of sales for the month and then start thinking about prices for the following month," he added. Caputo himself echoed this Clarín post on his X account.

The back and forth between the minister and the automakers continued until nightfall that day. Ford 's president for South America, Martín Galdeano, issued a statement announcing that The oval car company was not going to change its prices .

“Our decision is to maintain the current April list while we continue to monitor the evolution of the key variables that impact our business costs,” Galdeano said. “We believe this is not the time to make hasty decisions. We believe that the end of the restrictions, along with the ongoing tax reduction process, are steps in the right direction for normalizing the economy and improving competitiveness ,” he added.

Just a couple of minutes later, Caputo posted the statement on X, which he titled “Ford without any increase for its May prices.”

On Thursday afternoon, it was Toyota's turn. The Japanese automaker's subsidiary sent its dealer network a new price list for this month, with an average increase of 1.4% . This time, there were no posts from the Minister of Economy, but Toyota's increase was below March's inflation (3.7%) and also without any impact from the higher cost in pesos due to the devaluation.

Automakers complement their locally manufactured offerings with models imported from Brazil and countries outside the region.

But the Ministry of Economy emphasizes that automakers had already benefited in advance from a succession of tax eliminations or reductions. They include the elimination of the PAIS tax at the end of last year, the elimination of the first tier of internal taxes, and the reduction in the second tier. Furthermore, a system for importing auto parts for local automotive production was simplified in 2024.