Automakers Forsake the Future by Caving to Trump's Emissions Push

The first comment that came across my screen after the news that General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, along with Toyota Motor Corp. and some smaller foreign automakers, had signed on to President Donald Trump’s legal assault on technological progress in the auto industry was this: “Wimps.” The administration aims to strip California and other states of their ability to regulate vehicle emissions in their fight against global warming. It has split the global auto industry into two camps, with U.S. manufacturers on both sides. The stakes are nothing less than the technological — and geographical — future of automaking.

Fear of presidential retribution, particularly in the form of tariff discrimination, is the obvious — and perhaps only logical — explanation for the move by GM, which has bet its future on electric vehicles, to join Trump’s jihad against EVs. Fiat Chrysler, on the other hand, is behaving predictably. It remains far behind its competitors in preparing for a world without internal combustion cars and trucks. Toyota’s case is more complicated; the company believes in fuel cells, not batteries, but fear of Trump retaliating against the company seems likely a major factor for its backing as well.