NYT Claims Automakers Want Trump To Keep EV Mandates. One of Them Tells the Free Beacon That's Bogus.

The three largest American automakers, Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, are, according to a recent New York Times report, planning a coordinated lobbying push to convince President-elect Donald Trump to maintain a suite of climate rules forcing electric vehicle purchases.

The Thursday report—titled "Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles"—cites unnamed "lobbyists and officials from several car companies" who say manufacturers want Trump to keep the Biden administration's tailpipe emissions regulations, fuel economy standards, and generous tax credits for electric vehicle purchases.

But at least one of the referenced automakers, the multinational automaker Stellantis, is pushing back on the Times's reporting. Beyond that, a letter from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the nation's lead auto industry group, sent to Trump on Nov. 12, and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, indicates that climate rules pushing electric vehicles are among the major "headwinds" facing the industry.

A spokesman for Stellantis told the Free Beacon that the company is not pushing the administration to preserve EV mandates, directly contradicting the Times's report. "The New York Times story characterizing Stellantis as preparing to lobby the incoming Trump Administration to preserve EV mandates is not accurate," Stellantis told the Free Beacon in a statement. "Stellantis was not among the 'lobbyists and officials from several car companies' the story cites as its sources."

"In fact, Stellantis’s CEO has repeatedly said that the company is uniquely well positioned to adapt to any policy changes President-elect Trump might make because its multi-energy platforms can easily flex to accommodate a wide range of powertrain options from internal combustion to full battery electric," the company continued.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares remarked last week that his company was prepared to adapt to any market changes that occur during the incoming Trump administration, Reuters reported.

Ford and General Motors executives said they were also prepared for market changes and to respond to consumer demand following Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. "We've got to be able to produce vehicles that our customers want," General Motors chief financial officer Paul Jacobson said, according to local outlet Greater Milwaukee Today.

In its Nov. 12 letter to Trump, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation went further: Federal and state emissions regulations "are out of step with current auto market realities and increase costs for consumers," the group's president and CEO, John Bozzella, wrote in the letter. The letter highlighted California's regulations, which mandate EV purchases and have been adopted by more than a dozen other states.

The Times report on Thursday noted the Alliance for Automotive Innovation's letter but quoted the part of the letter stating the auto sector needs "stability and predictability in auto-related emissions standards." The report failed to mention that the letter criticized electric vehicle mandates, a point that may have cast doubt on the report's broader conclusion if included.

In a statement to the Free Beacon, a Times spokeswoman said the piece was "thoroughly" reported and fact-checked. "We stand behind it," the spokesman added.

"These companies are hemorrhaging billions to comply with deep-state EV mandates that force gasoline and diesel car buyers to subsidize liberals’ virtue signaling with electric cars," Jason Isaac, the founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute, told the Free Beacon.

"Donald Trump and American voters see through this scam—EV mandates aren’t about saving the planet; they’re about appeasing to foreign interests and advancing a political agenda that punishes working families while enriching the elites," Isaac continued.

Trump pledged on the campaign trail to quickly unravel the Biden administration's regulatory regime aimed at pushing electric vehicles and curbing purchases of gas-powered vehicles. President Joe Biden implemented the regulations as part of his effort to ensure half of all car purchases are electric by 2030 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions nationwide.

In addition to the Environmental Protection Agency's tailpipe emissions rules, the Department of Transportation's fuel economy standards, and the Treasury Department's electric vehicle tax credits, the Biden administration also granted a Clean Air Act waiver to California, allowing it to issue stricter emissions rules than those set by the federal government.

Under the waiver, California regulators finalized rules that phase out new gas-powered cars and mandate that 100 percent of all car purchases are electric by 2035. The waiver also allows other states to adopt the same rules and nearly two dozen Democrat-led states representing more than 40 percent of the American population have opted to do so.

Less than 10 percent of all car sales in the United States are electric, according to the latest data released in October by the Alliance For Automotive Innovation.

"The American people spoke very clearly this month," the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers said in a statement shared with the Free Beacon. "They do not support EV mandates, and they want the Trump-Vance administration to follow through with their day 1 promise to rescind EPA’s tailpipe standards and deny California’s request to fully ban gas cars."

"The surest way for automakers to safeguard their investments is to make cars Americans want to drive," the group added.

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