It is an indisputable fact that one of the biggest political events on the global scale every four years is the result of the American election. Whether you live in America or not, the fact remains that America is a superpower whose direction changes many industries and countries worldwide. One such industry is the automotive industry, and the result of the upcoming election could introduce some major changes that will affect this industry both for those on top and the rank-and-file workers. So, let’s look at how a change in presidency in the US could spell major changes worldwide, and good or bad could come from those changes.
The effects of the pandemic
Before we can discuss what will happen to the automotive industry, we need to better understand what happened over the past few years. Since 2019 the automotive industry faced a lot of changes, especially with the COVID pandemic affecting the supply chain and a lot of the workforce used to produce cars. It’s important to know that while coronavirus killed millions it also disabled a lot more people which meant that it decimated a large part of the workforce. While this affected a lot of the automotive industry’s manufacturing, it also caused many problems in the supply chain, especially when it came to deliveries. This meant that a lot of components required to build cars became hard to come by especially electronics.
Democrat administration between 2020 and 2024
While a lot of the positions of the Democrat president Joe Biden were very similar to some of the republican representatives when it came to bolstering the American industries there is one major difference that changed a lot when it comes to the automotive workers. During this presidency, we saw a lot of protests and even strikes from the automotive workers for both better wages and better conditions. While this is not something new what happened between the automotive worker unions and the American president was historic. Not only did the president show up to the UAW picket line but he also showed support towards unions all around the country. According to union members, Joe Biden is the most pro-union president since FDR. While this meant that companies had to accept a lot of the UAW conditions it also allowed for better conditions for workers which meant that a lot of people were looking to join this line of work.
Another big part of the Joe Biden administration’s relationship with the automotive industry is the massive investment from the American government into the transition from gas-powered motors to electric cars. In July 2024 the Biden-Harris administration presented their plans to invest over $2 billion into the automotive industry to help them modernize their activities and train union workers to accelerate the transition between the manufacturing of combustion engine cars to electric cars since they are looking for a 2030 deadline where all cars on the market are to be electric.
2024 election and what could be
It’s important to know that if the Democrats remain in charge of government chances are that the positive relationship between the government and the automotive worker industry will remain stable while the funds for transition will also remain. It’s hard to tell at this point what could happen if Joe Biden is not the Democrat representative for the election, but chances are that Democrat representatives would push any kind of Democrat president towards the same agendas. This means a lot of benefits for both the automotive industry and its workers both in the United States and abroad.
On the other, a republican administration would have worse relationships with unions while potentially removing a lot of the restrictions and regulations surrounding car manufacturing. For many people, this often spells disaster especially when it comes to quality insurance and safety, but it could also mean lower cost and more profits for automotive industry giants. Since a lot of these companies our worldwide operations this would of course change the landscape of the automotive industry all around the world.
What this means for you the consumer.
As you can see now might not be the best time to change cars as we see the automotive industry change a lot, especially with the arrival of electric cars and the massive investment from the government. A lot of people recommend that you take care of your car currently and wait a few generations before actually investing a lot of money in electric cars. Whether that means spending more money on repairs or things to prevent damage to your car taking care of your vehicle is extremely important especially since a lot of the newer models are currently very expensive. You can get car covers here online and the same goes for waxes and rust removers to make sure that your old car stays the course as the automotive industry continues its transition towards electric.