GM Lashes Out At Biden Administration Plan

The automaker warns the entire industry could face catastrophic financial pain.

In a turn of events some find shocking, General Motors has sounded the alarm on the Biden Administration’s vehicle fuel economy rules proposal, claiming it could cost automakers hundreds of billions of dollars in penalties. However, as Reuters has reported, Biden officials claim GM is blowing things well out of proportion.

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According to Reuters, GM executive David Strickland had a meeting on July 17 with White House Office of Management and Budget officials to talk about the federal government’s proposed fuel economy regulations. That visit doesn’t seem to have gone well, because afterwards GM dropped a neutron bomb of sorts on the stricter CAFE standards for the 2027 to 2031 model years, claiming they could result in $100-300 billion in penalties for automakers.

That’s no small quantity of cash, average out to somewhere between $1,300 to $4,300 per car sold, a cost of doing business that would be passed on to consumers. NHTSA, which has oversight of CAFE regulations, took issue with GM’s statement, saying the “estimate is pure speculation and inaccurate.” So it seems tensions between the auto giant and the Biden Administration are on the rise.

To anyone who’s been paying attention to recent developments, this shouldn’t be a total shock. Even though GM and Biden have cozied up on a number of occasions, with CEO Mary Barra posing for PR photos and such, automakers aren’t happy with recent regulatory moves. In fact, a lobby group that represents GM and many other big automakers, recently showed resistance to the EPA’s rather aggressive vehicle pollution limits proposal, showing that the industry doesn’t appreciate having its wings clipped. This stands in stark contrast to the image Biden has projected of being pro-American commerce, in particular manufacturing and especially the auto industry.

Ultimately, this rift between GM and the Biden Administration might be shocking to some, but it was something we thought was likely. Certain automakers, like GM, cozied up to Biden and got on the EV bandwagon, ignoring the realities of what this administration aimed to ultimately do. Now that things are firming up with these new CAFE standards, GM seems to have realized its gross miscalculation.

While in a way we think it’s hilarious that GM is dealing with the consequences of its actions, at the same time we also know government fines as well as the development costs required from automakers to comply with sharply increasing regulatory requirements will only put the squeeze on consumers. In other words, if you think vehicle prices have been out of control in the past few years, hold onto your hat because what the Biden Administration is pushing to do is almost guaranteed to spike prices far beyond anything we’ve seen yet.

Images via GM