‘A failure of central planning’: Automakers slowing EV production after Biden’s freebies bite the dust
‘The market correction is exposing how artificial that demand really was’
Several major automakers including General Motors (GM) are switching gears when it comes to electric vehicles (EVs) now that the policy landscape has shifted and federal tax credits are expiring, according to multiple reports.
GM noted in a Tuesday Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that the “reassessment of our EV capacity and manufacturing footprint” is “ongoing” and that it will record a $1.2 billion accounting charge “as a result of adjustments to our EV capacity.” GM also recently pivoted to redirect what was planned as a New York EV plant to produce V-8 engines while several other automakers including Stellantis and Ford have also recently canceled or delayed some EV models as the Trump administration and Congress move to roll back Biden-era EV mandates and incentives.
“General Motors built its EV strategy on government handouts, mandates they refused to fight, and pressure from the ESG cartel, not on consumer demand. Now that Biden’s subsidies are drying up, the market correction is exposing how artificial that demand really was,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The EV push distorted the entire auto industry, forcing companies to chase political favor instead of building cars people actually want. This isn’t a failure of innovation; it’s a failure of central planning.”
The Biden administration pushed for EVs through tax credits and allowed California to effectively impose a national de facto EV mandate. Congress and President Donald Trump blocked the EV mandate and slashed many federal EV incentives, including most recently the $7,500 tax credit, which expired on Sept. 30.
GM noted in its Tuesday filing that it expected the “adoption rate of EVs to slow” after the recent U.S. policy changes, which included the “termination of certain consumer tax incentives for EV purchases and the reduction in the stringency of emissions regulations.”
Several energy policy experts previously explained to the DCNF that the long-standing $7,500 tax credit expanded and extended under the Biden administration distorted markets and threatened consumer choice. Critics like Isaac and senior fellow at the Energy & Environment Legal Institute Steve Milloy argue that these production changes highlighted the market distortion caused by Biden-era policies.
“GM’s problem is that it has allowed the government to decide what consumers should drive. First the government mindlessly demanded ever-greater fuel economy. Then it mandated even more expensive and less practical EVs. Consumers wanted neither,” Milloy told the DCNF. “While consumers could be compelled to pay more for the SUVs they wanted, the government could not make them buy EVs they didn’t want. President Trump has entirely upended about 50 years of car industry kowtowing to the government. GM shareholders are now paying (once again) for folly of government-mandated cars.”
