In my capacity as AIADA chairman, I sometimes worry that I’m in danger of being written off as the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Or, in my case, the Dealer Who Cried Legislative Disaster. I want to assure you that I wouldn’t have spent the last 6 months sending out increasingly urgent emails if I didn’t think they were, in fact, increasingly urgent.

Here are the facts:

  • Congress is getting ready to pass legislation that would exclude all international nameplate electric vehicles from being eligible for a $4,500 tax credit. The credit would only be made available to UAW-built vehicles, disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of our dealership employees and our brands’ American plant workers.
  • Negotiations on this provision are happening now, behind closed doors. Friends of the UAW are anxious to include this language in the budget reconciliation bill. They feel confident it will be overshadowed by more contentious issues and that they can quietly slip it through both the House and Senate.
  • When this budget bill moves, it will move fast. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer know better than to let bills hang around for debate and scrutiny. By the time we see the final budget reconciliation bill containing this union handout, it will be too late.

It is absolutely crucial that AIADA members act now to kill this policy before it can be added to final budget language. None of us want to look back a year from now and realize that we missed a critical opportunity to be competitive in the growing EV market.

We need to make it politically painful for legislators to support union-only tax credits. And that shouldn’t be too hard. After all, this scheme is fundamentally un-American. It prioritizes some American workers over others, makes it more difficult to get Americans into electric vehicles (something this administration purports to care about), and it has the government inserting itself into the marketplace, something the American public is not traditionally thrilled by.

All we need to do is raise these points with our representative and senators. And let them know we’re watching how they vote. AIADA has made it easy, with pre-written letters and even ways to reach out via video. Visit www.AIADA.org/EV to get everything you need.

Think of it this way: if we stand by and let politicians and the UAW ram this down our throats, do you think they’ll stop there? Will they be satisfied with $4,500 cash on the hood? Unlikely. If we don’t stand up now, we can expect to see more legislation just like this. More taxes. More tariffs. More quid pro quo. All based on the same philosophy: your business, your employees, and your products aren’t American enough for the U.S. government.

I’m not ok with that. I don’t think any of us are. So join me, please, in fighting back.

Steve Gates
AIADA Chairman