Electric car incentives and emissions regulations may not be the only automotive casualties of the United States’ current administration. With the dismantling of EPA fines for emissions violations and the added costs of tariffs, automakers are now feeling pressure to eliminate costly lightweight materials from their designs in order to keep price inflation in check. In other words, your next car’s curb weight might creep up just as much as its starting price.
According to Automotive News, The Center for Automotive Research expects manufacturers to have to absorb an average of $4,600 in additional cost per vehicle built by 2027. With brands already facing backlash for post-COVID price creep, automakers are looking for ways to avoid sticker shock, and that will likely come in the form of cheaper components made from heavier, less-expensive materials. Expect an increase in cheaper grades of steel and less proliferation of aluminum alloys and advanced composites, in other words—at least for cars whose primary market is the United States.
As much as we’d like to believe that lightweight sports cars lead the way in automotive development, efficiency was the primary driver behind the increased use of high-tech materials. Both internal-combustion and electric vehicles benefited greatly from “lightweighting,” with the latter incentivizing it as a way to eke out more range. Now that vehicles destined for the U.S. market won’t be subject to fines for fuel consumption and government-funded EV tax incentives will soon be dead, the pressure to spend extra on lighter components has evaporated.
So where’s the mythical, zero-feature, dirt-cheap, manual sports car with a V8 that we were all promised would show up when the government’s pesky regulations were rolled back? Don’t hold your breath. As we’ve already seen from Dodge and Ram, simply de-clawing the EPA won’t get the job done, and the administration will need time to make another run at CARB and the 16 other states (plus D.C.) that modeled its emissions framework.
Plus, because automakers work in development cycles that typically span at least three to five years, an administration can come and go in the time it takes to bring a single model from concept to production. The potential for another major political shift is going to limit the ability of an already timid industry to take adventurous leaps to reach an audience that may represent barely 2% of car buyers. Even if an automaker had a design sitting on the proverbial shelf, ready to go, the potential cost of failure looms large.
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