General Motors (GM) quietly backed away from its high-profile pledge to phase out gasoline-powered vehicles over the next decade, effectively abandoning the electric vehicle (EV) transition it once championed, E&E News reported Thursday.
In January 2021, shortly after former President Joe Biden took office and before his administration implemented new regulations and tax credits to incentivize the production of EVs, GM announced its plans to transition to an all-electric vehicle lineup by 2035. However, on Tuesday, GM announced that it would invest $4 billion in the production of mostly gasoline-powered vehicles as it backs away from its earlier EV targets, according to E&E News.
Furthermore, to avoid the 25% tariffs on vehicle imports from Mexico imposed by the Trump administration, GM is moving production of around a half-million gasoline-powered vehicles from Mexico to the U.S., E&E News reported.
Sam Abuelsmaid, an auto analyst for a Detroit-area research firm, told E&E that the move means the company is “giving up any hope of achieving that [2035] goal.”
GM’s shift follows cooling consumer demand for electric cars, and diminishing federal support for green energy projects under the Trump administration. On Thursday, Trump signed three bills that block California’s ability to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035 in the Golden State and numerous others, effectively wiping out a key pillar of the Democrats’ de facto national EV mandate.
“We still believe in an all-EV future,” GM stated when asked on Wednesday by E&E about the status of the 2035 goal. Notably, GM CEO Mary Barra has consistently claimed that EVs are the future of transportation, and said in May that “EVs are fundamentally better.”
Behind the scenes, however, GM was actively lobbying the federal government to overturn California’s EV mandate.
“We need your help!” GM said in a recent email blast to its white-collar employees, The Wall Street Journal reported. “Emissions standards that are not aligned with market realities pose a serious threat to our business by undermining consumer choice and vehicle affordability.”
While GM continues to build EVs — such as the electric Chevrolet Silverado, Cadillac Escalades and GMC Sierra— at its Factory Zero in Detroit, E&E reports that the plant is operating far below capacity.
In May, GM said it would halt its plans to produce electric motors at its Towanda Production plant in Buffalo, New York, opting instead to invest $888 million in manufacturing V-8 engines. Additionally, in 2023, GM committed $579 million to renovate an engine manufacturing facility in Flint, Michigan.
The current version of the “one big, beautiful bill” to advance President Trump’s political agenda also includes repealing Biden-era EV tax credits and other green energy subsidies. Moreover, the administration has cut billions in grant funding and loans that were shelled out under the auspices of the Biden administration.
GM did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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