“I’m a car guy”, “I’m a car guy”, likes to say the American president. Joe Biden, who has already visited the Ford and General Motors factories since the start of his mandate, could not miss this opportunity: the great return of the Naias, the North American International Auto Show, in short the Detroit Motor Show, of return after these years of scarcity. For this recovery, there will be fewer exhibitors than usual and few new products are expected, apart from a new version of the famous Ford Mustang. But 500,000 visitors are still announced. And the Naias plays it, of course, in the American style with its promotional video: “Fasten your seatbelts, get ready for the drive of your life, in the only city in the world where the automobile is king, Detroit!” Later Joe Biden will be welcomed by the main CEOs of the sector, the bosses of Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors.
The main subject will therefore be the promotion of electric vehicles. Objective announced by the American president: by 2030, one out of two new vehicles must be electric. California is going even further: no more sales of fossil fuel vehicles by 2035. Sales of electric cars are increasing steadily: +60% in the 2nd quarter. But their share is still minor compared to the overall market: less than 6%. They remain, on average, 30% more expensive than gasoline cars. So Joe Biden is forcing all the more that he is in the electoral campaign: the mid-term elections take place in less than two months. He will therefore undoubtedly take advantage of this visit to Detroit to announce the release of an additional 900 million dollars intended to finance the establishment of charging stations throughout the country. A first plan, last year, had already released more than seven billion with the same objective. More importantly: another $52 billion plan, this time for manufacturing semiconductors on American soil. The shortage of components is very strong, in particular due to trade tensions with China.
This desire to become independent of China also leads to a measure criticized by manufacturers: the recent creation of a tax credit of 7,500 dollars for the purchase of an electric vehicle. On paper, it’s huge and attractive. But consumers are likely to be frustrated: to obtain this bonus, you have to buy a vehicle assembled from A to Z in North America. And whose batteries are made with raw materials from the continent. And this last criterion is very restrictive, in particular because of the lack of lithium. So in the end, only a handful of cars meet the required criteria. For the moment, it’s a bit of a mirror to the larks.