Tag: American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA)

The US EV tax credit shows international EV dealers have few friends in Washington

2021-11-23 / Robert Vinet

Steve Gates,
Chairman » American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA)

There is a popular and apocryphal quote, attributed to Harry S. Truman, in which he advises that, “If you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog.”

International dealers have never felt the truth in that statement as powerfully as we do now. Our friends in Washington are few and far between these days, as we seek protection against an un-American provision being shoe-horned into the Build Back Better bill to benefit the UAW. The provision would offer consumers a $4,500 tax credit for buying an electric vehicle, but only if that vehicle was assembled in a union-represented plant.

The language is transparently a political payback from politicians to the unions who fund their campaigns. After all, a union-only tax credit doesn’t promote EV sales. It drastically limits EV choices for consumers and will slow the conversion to electric vehicles. It also doesn’t protect American workers. Today, 673,000 Americans are employed by non-unionized international nameplate manufacturers and dealers (not including Tesla and others). And it certainly doesn’t benefit taxpayers, whose money will go to subsidize a narrow sector of the American auto industry, concentrated in just a few Midwest states.
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“Build Back Better Act is a slap in the face of 673,000 Americans”

2021-11-19 / Robert Vinet

Cody Lusk, President & CEO of the American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA), today released the following statement »

The inclusion of the complex and discriminatory $4,500 UAW-only tax credit in the House of Representative’s final version of the Build Back Better Act is a slap in the face of 673,000 Americans who work in international nameplate manufacturing plants and dealerships. As written, the provision uses tax dollars to complicate the electric vehicle purchase process and advantage union workers ahead of other American workers. All American workers deserve their lawmakers’ respect. Now, international nameplate dealers must turn their attention to the U.S. Senate in hopes of regaining that respect and restoring a level playing field for American workers.

White House backs Detroit automakers on EV tax subsidies

2021-10-29 / Robert Vinet

Under the budget proposal laid out by the White House on Thursday, Detroit automakers would be able to offer USD$4,500 more in tax credits to US electric car buyers than rivals such as Tesla Inc., Volkswagen Group, Honda Motor Co., and Toyota Motor Corp. under the USD$1.75 trillion tax and spending proposal.

The proposal calls for all automakers to be able to offer USD$7,500 to consumers for EV purchases for the first five years of the law. However, EVs made by American manufacturers, in the U.S., with union-represented workers would be allowed to offer an additional USD$4,500 in credits according to a draft text of the bill.

Used EV buyers would be eligible to receive USD$2,000 in tax credits.

The union provision is an “an insult to the 673,000 Americans who work in international nameplate manufacturing plants and dealerships,” Cody Lusk, president and CEO of American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA), said in a statement. The provision also “makes it more difficult for Americans to buy green vehicles, as it can only be applied to a handful of the more than 60 electric vehicles available for sale today.”