Ford and General Motors: Stop Hiding Behind Your Anti-EV Auto Industry Lobbying Group

To: Mary Barra, Jim Farley, and members of GM and Ford’s executive leadership  

Consumer demand for electric vehicles (EVs) is indisputably at an all-time high. Four-in-ten Americans are ready to go electric, and month-over-month, United States EV sales continue to grow—total EV sales surpassed 300,000 in Q3, and September 2023 EV sales were the highest of any month on record by a large margin. International sales mirror these trends: the global EV market grew 34% year-to-date as of September, including in major markets like China and European countries.

Yet General Motors (GM) and Ford – represented by the anti-EV trade association, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI) – are lobbying against regulations in the U.S. that would further speed up the EV transition and reduce emissions, protecting the health of our communities.

The proposed multi-pollutant light duty vehicle (LDV) standards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would establish greenhouse gas and air pollution standards that the EPA projects will result in 67% of cars sold in the U.S. being all-electric by 2032 – a figure that is far less ambitious than GM’s own pledge to exclusively offer electric vehicles by 2035 and seemingly on track with Ford's public goal for 40%-50% of its global vehicle volume to be fully electric by 2030. 

The AAI's position should reflect the industry's investments in EVs, supporting the light duty vehicle standards and encouraging the industry to continue investing in electrification. Instead, the AAI outright opposes this new regulation, which implies that, as members of the AAI, so do GM and Ford.

The transportation industry is the single largest U.S. source of greenhouse gas emissions. According to the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air 2023” report, 64 million Americans live in communities impacted by unhealthy levels of fine particle pollution, which are released by gas-powered cars. The same report found that people of color are 3.7 times more likely than white people to live in a county with failing national air quality standards and assigned Michigan’s Wayne County an “F” grade for short-term particle pollution. It is absolutely imperative for the health and lives of people in Detroit – and across the nation – that GM and Ford accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.

Every gas-powered car built ties us to decades of oil consumption, vehicle pollution, and respiratory health risks. When the EPA finalizes the light-duty vehicle standards, it must ensure that we are transitioning to zero-emission vehicles as soon as possible.

Time is running out for GM and Ford; not only do your companies risk losing out critical market share to competitors, but you risk harming your brands' legacies by standing on the wrong side of history on climate and public health.

GM and Ford: Don't let AAI’s anti-EV lobbyists speak for you. Unless you distance yourselves from the AAI and express clear support of the clean cars standards, your companies are complicit in blocking progress on EVs.

Keep driving toward the all-electric future backed by good union jobs you've promised your customers. We are watching closely and look forward to your response. 

Sincerely,

Ekō
Center for Biological Diversity
Coltura
Electric Vehicle Association
GreenLatinos
Interfaith Power & Light
League of Conservation Voters
Public Citizen
Sierra Club
The Sunrise Project