Automakers General Motors and Stellantis have recently paid a whopping $363.8 million in penalties for failing to meet federal fuel-economy targets for their cars and trucks manufactured in the previous years, according to recently published federal documents.
Based on the documents released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, General Motors paid a fine of $128.2 million for falling short of targets with its light trucks sold in 2018 and 2019, while French automaker Peugeot’s merger with Fiat Chrysler, now Stellantis, paid $235.6 million for cars sold in 2016 and 2017.
As per the documents, General Motors paid the penalty in December last year, whereas Stellantis made its payments in December and May earlier this year. Reuters had reported these payments earlier.
It should be noted that these fines were for fuel standards prior to the production of electric vehicles and hybrid cars in significant numbers. The penalties were imposed under the corporate average fuel-economy standards enforced by the safety agency.
The fuel-economy standards date back to a time when electric vehicles and hybrid cars were not widely available. At that time, most automakers regularly paid fines for failing to meet regulatory targets. However, the sums paid by General Motors and Stellantis recently were significantly higher than the fines paid earlier.
In recent years, General Motors, Stellantis, and other automakers have ensured that they do not have to pay fines by purchasing fuel-economy credits from manufacturers that produce electric or zero-emission vehicles. General Motors covered its penalties in 2016 and 2017 using credits, but in 2022, it decided to pay the fines, according to federal documents.
Most major automakers, including General Motors and Stellantis, are speeding up the launch of new electric models and expect to sell a majority of electric vehicles in the future decade.
In a statement, Stellantis expressed that it is investing $35 billion to develop battery-powered vehicles and related software and is planning to introduce 25 electric models in the US by 2030, which the company said reflects “past performance recorded before the formation of Stellantis, and is not indicative of the company’s direction.”
General Motors, on the other hand, hopes to produce a million electric vehicles yearly by 2025, with plans to end combustion-engine vehicle manufacturing by 2035.
