Paying American Consumers to Buy Only Union-Built Vehicles is Un-American

Dear Friend,

In case you missed it, please see below the latest blog post from AIADA Chairman Steve Gates. In it, he addresses a Senate policy proposal that threatens your brands and your stores. Language inserted in to the Clean Energy for America Act now offers consumers additional tax credits to buy electric vehicles made not just in American assembly plants, but in American assembly plants represented by unions. This is a blatant case of the federal government, under the guise of environmental protection, interfering in the free market and choosing winners and losers. I urge you to read Steve's blog post below, and then take action by clicking here.

As always, thank you for being a tireless advocate for your stores, your employees, and your customers.

Cody Lusk
AIADA President & CEO

Paying Consumers to Buy Union-Built Vehicles is Un-American

In my last blog post, I wrote that President Biden’s buy-American, pro-union rhetoric “scared the heck out of me.” It would have been nice to have my fears proven unfounded, but instead, just a couple weeks after I wrote those words, Democrats in the Senate moved to tie electric vehicle incentives not just to vehicles built in U.S. plants, but to vehicles built in UNIONIZED U.S. plants.

To be precise, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee supported language in the Clean Energy for America Act to raise EV incentives from $7,500 to $12,500 – a huge increase with an even bigger catch: consumers are eligible for a $7,500 tax credit if they buy an EV, an additional $2,500 If the vehicle is assembled in the U.S., and another $2,500 if it is assembled in a plant whose workforce is represented by a union.

This is curious language for a bill meant to fight for climate change in the United States. It’s almost as if this portion of the bill, as it is written now, is not about climate change at all. As if, even, this bill was written by the UAW and their friends to benefit themselves and not American consumers, taxpayers, or the environment. Surely, no, you say. Impossible that something so untoward, so blatantly transactional, would take place in the hallowed halls of the Congress.

OK, sadly and obviously, stuff like this happens all the time. And it’s up to us, America’s international nameplate retailers, to push back against it. The language included in this current version of the Clean Energy for America Act values some American workers over other American workers. It prioritizes some American-built brands over others. And the biggest losers, as a result, are the hardworking American families who just want to buy a vehicle, not have their purchases manipulated by the government or the UAW.

So what can we do?

Well first, you can join me in moving from scared to mad. And then you can click here to send a letter to your lawmakers calling this proposal what it is: un-American. You can use some language AIADA has put together for you, or you can customize the letter for your stores, highlighting the facts that:

All American jobs matter
All American workers are important
And no taxpayer money should go to advancing a union agenda at the expense of American workers and stores

I’ve already sent my letter, and I urge you to join me in fighting back against Congressional and union overreach.

Steve Gates
AIADA Chairman

About AIADA
Established in 1970, AIADA is and continues to be the only association whose sole purpose is to represent America’s international nameplate automobile franchises that sell and service the following brands in the United States: Acura, Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Genesis, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Lexus, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes, MINI, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Smart, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo. These retailers have a positive economic impact both nationally and in the local communities they serve, providing over 564,000 American jobs. Visit AIADA online at www.aiada.org.