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GM adapts product plans due to regulatory shifts

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Barra emphasizes EVs as superior product despite

challenges

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Automakers, including Ford, pull back from EV investments

By Nora Eckert and Kalea Hall

DETROIT, Jan 12 (Reuters) - General Motors ( GM ) CEO

Mary Barra said the Trump administration's push to loosen

fuel-economy rules has affected the automaker's business even

more than its ‌fast-changing trade policies.

Speaking at an Automotive Press Association event ahead of

this week's Detroit auto show, Barra said the administration's

regulatory ​shifts, such as killing a $7,500 electric-vehicle tax

credit and moving to roll back tailpipe-emissions rules,

prompted ‍GM to rapidly adapt its product plans.

"We had to make ⁠some fairly significant changes," ⁠Barra

said, referring to decisions to cut billions of dollars' worth

of EV investments while leaning in harder to combustion-engine

vehicles.

U.S. President ‌Donald Trump has championed slashing fuel economy

regulations ​that guided the industry for years, in a push to

make it easier to sell gasoline-powered cars. He also cut a

$7,500 consumer tax credit on ⁠electric models in late September,

causing demand to ‍plummet.

Barra said ​GM still believes EVs eventually will take off in

the U.S. as charging becomes easier and prices come down, and

said GM still sees battery-powered vehicles as "the end ‍game."

"It will take longer without the incentives, but I still

think we'll get there over time," Barra said of the transition

to being fully electric.

She reiterated that GM is developing plug-in hybrid vehicles,

which can run on fully electric power before the car switches to

an internal combustion engine, and that the company is

evaluating traditional hybrids as well. But she ​said GM ‍will

continue to focus more on EVs because they are a superior

product for customers.

Several major automakers have pulled back from their EV

ambitions, including GM's crosstown rival ​Ford Motor,

which last month took a $19.5 billion writedown as it axed

several EV programs.

GM this month said it would record a $6 billion charge to unwind

some electric-vehicle investments, following a $1.6 billion

third-quarter charge.

"I'm a little surprised at some that are really

pulling away very quickly, because we don't know what will be in

'29, '30, '32," Barra said, adding that she wants GM to maintain

flexibility to adjust to how regulations may ​shift in future

administrations.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last year

proposed significantly reducing the fuel economy requirements

from model years 2022 to 2031, requiring 34.5 miles per gallon

on average by 2031, down from 50.4 miles per gallon (21.4 km ‍per

liter).