Politics and Health Impacting the Automotive World

Health concerns with rising COVID-19 cases and an announcement from the President give us significant changes in the automotive world.

Last year, many of the auto shows that were scheduled were canceled. The COVID-19 pandemic took over and our fears of spreading a deadly virus were rampant. We were thankful when it seemed like the world was open once again, but not so fast.

Politics Have Always Played a Part

Another subject recently arose, and it’s one that has been part of our political landscape for many years. The goal of the current Presidential administration is to increase the number of electric vehicles being sold. Recently, the President signed an executive order to set a national goal for zero-emissions vehicles to be fifty percent of sales by 2030, which is an extremely aggressive approach.

How Did COVID-19 Impact the Automotive World?

The New York International Auto Show has been canceled. This news came only days before it was set to open on August 20. This show is one of the biggest in the United States but the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus.

This virus is wreaking havoc on the area and has forced auto workers to work while wearing masks on assembly lines, which could have a negative impact on vehicle production, which has already been impacted several times over.

Support for the Biden Electric-Vehicle Initiative

The announcement of the 50 percent goal by 2030 came with President Joe Biden behind the wheel of a plug-in version of the Jeep Wrangler. He was surrounded by executives from Ford, GM, and the United Auto Workers, which shows a strong crowd of support in the American Automotive industry.

We may wonder what the political impact of this order will be on the automotive world, but having this support is certainly a huge step in the direction of more EVs.

The Detroit Big Three Hope to Stop the Spread

Short of requiring all employees to become fully vaccinated, the only way that the Big Three Automakers can help slow the spread of the coronavirus is to put measures in place that were present at many businesses during the pandemic. The most common practice was to require workers to wear masks, and all three automakers are requiring their employees to do this.

Can We Get to Fifty Percent?

Thankfully, the executive order signed by President Biden is nonbinding and will likely be largely symbolic, it does set us on a path toward greater numbers of electric vehicles being sold in the U.S. going forward.

Some of the auto companies that were present at the announcement have made their own announcements regarding this plan and expect to reach at least 40 percent EV sales by 2030. While still short of the presidential goal, that would be a significant increase over the percent we see today.

The Delta Variant Isn’t Only Impacting the United States

While we focus mostly on what happens here, we have enough issues not to worry about some of the things happening in other countries; some of the foreign-owned manufacturers are also reinstating the mask mandate on assembly lines.

Nearly every automaker has at least one plant in the U.S. and many have put this mandate in place to avoid shutdowns. This is one way the new variant and increase in COVID-19 cases is impacting foreign companies as much as the domestic names.

Electric Vehicle Production Raises Concerns Among Autoworkers

While building and selling more electric vehicles is better for the environment, the labor to build these vehicles is much less than traditional vehicles.

Will some jobs be outsourced to cheaper labor markets? Will some of the work be done by non-union labor? Will President Biden take a strongly patriotic stance to keep automotive jobs in the U.S., similar to President Trump?

These questions are important to those in the automotive world, especially those working on the assembly line with a mask on right now.

Health Concerns, Political Changes, Otherwise a Slow News Day

Every time you turn around, it seems like politics are involved in the automotive world. While health concerns haven’t always been part of the conversation, it seems adding this item to the mix just makes the politicizing of a health crisis on par with what we’ve experienced over the past two years.

Hopefully, both the mask mandate and the increase in electric vehicles will work out for automakers and their employees but seeing the New York International Auto Show being canceled is not a sign of hope.