The $150 million (plus) that General Motors is investing this year to expand metalcasting capacity for V-8 engine blocks and cylinder heads is welcome news, but it’s small compared with the roughly $35 billion GM committed earlier this decade to electric and autonomous vehicle development, battery production, and related programs.
GM - and the other automaking giants - thought they had the future figured out, and were encouraged in that misconception by regulatory bodies and activist investors, and perhaps by their own ambitions to offer some market-disrupting, must-have product. And the entire delusion was supported and prolonged by federal officials incentivizing EV sales with tax credits up to $7,500 per vehicle.
These subsidies indirectly supported manufacturers’ development strategies by sustaining consumer demand for higher-priced EVs. They were justified by environmental objectives but allowed the EVs to stay in the luxury vehicle class rather than finding a wider market niche. The tax credits provided scant assistance to most car buyers.
After 17 years of those credits, amid discussion and promotion, model revisions and other tactics to make expand their appeal, EVs vehicles together comprised about 9.5% of all vehicle sales in 2025. (Factoring in hybrid vehicle sales pushes that percentage closer to 20% of sales.) They still represent less than 2.0% of all vehicles on the road.
Now, the automakers explain, they’re planning a different future. Ford took a $19.5-billion EV program write-down and put the fully electric F-150 on hold, and is shifting its portfolio to extended-range EVs and hybrids. GM swallowed approximately $7.1 billion in EV-related charges to adjust its manufacturing footprint and settle supplier contracts, and has stopped pushing an EV-only agenda. It is investing broadly in internal-combustion engine (ICE) and hybrid truck programs.
Stellantis (Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram parent) recorded a $26 billion charge, and it too is shifting its emphasis from electrification to a mix of hybrids, ICE, and EVs. Honda is slowing its North American EV expansion. Toyota (which started the current hybrid and electric vehicle phase with the introduction of the Prius in 2000) has been in less of a rush toward EVs than its competitors, and continues to prioritize hybrids over battery-electric vehicles.
It’s difficult to look at these redirections and conclude that something new about automotive demand was revealed once the federal tax credit expired. The buyers were the same all through those 17 years, and failure to recognize the buyers’ priorities feels more like a slight than an oversight.
U.S. drivers travel approximately 230 to 270 miles per week. They want their cars or pickups to match their mobility without running out of power, or severely altering their comings and goings. They do not want to be the test subjects for a vehicle power and service infrastructure yet to be built.
It’s worth noting that electrification is going down much better with European auto buyers, whose tastes involve smaller vehicles and far less driving over shorter distances. There, a more “compact” lifestyle and tolerance for much higher fuel prices make the EV experience seem like a simpler change in pattern. It would be interesting to know how much the progress of electric vehicles in Europe convinced North American automakers to simply outlast their market’s resistance for so long.
It will not be surprising if automotive design becomes even more regionally focused as these distinctions become more clearly defined.
More than that, it would be interesting to know if the North American automakers have recognized that their car and truck buyers want more than the affordability, range, and reliability that they have grown accustomed to with their gas-powered vehicles. They want autonomy and flexibility. They enjoy car ownership and most of them do not want to be enrolled in an environmental movement.
It’s remarkable to think that more than two decades into the electrification of the automotive industry, the manufacturers are now learning that the vehicle buyers have the final word on product development and selection.
