Still, most survey respondents said the Biden administration negatively affected their businesses last year, citing high energy costs and inflation as well as rising interest rates.
Dealership executives also were skeptical of Biden’s target for half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be zero emission — battery-electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell — in 2030, with nearly 70 percent saying they don’t support the president’s goal.
That includes Rob Gonzalez, dealer principal at Rush Chevrolet, who called the ambitious objective a “pipe dream.”
Unlike some Chevy dealers, Gonzalez said he’s not preparing to sell EVs at his store in Elgin, Texas, about 25 miles east of Austin.
“I’m not anxious to pursue it at this point, but I’m receiving an extreme amount of pressure from the Chevrolet division of General Motors,” he said. “They’re putting a lot of pressure on dealers who are not signed up for EVs to sign up.”
Gonzalez said his hesitance is mainly driven by two reasons.
“I don’t believe that this is a viable, long-term solution,” he explained. “One, the vehicles are extremely expensive. No. 2, the infrastructure to support an EV program does not exist in our country.”
To be sure, the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package signed into law in 2021 included $7.5 billion to help build a national network of EV charging stations, though it will take time for state infrastructure plans to be completed.
