GM Vowed to Kill the Gas Engine and Just Hit the Jackpot in Trump’s Rollback

General Motors vowed in 2021 to end tailpipe emissions from its new cars and trucks by 2035.

On September 28, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy finalized a rule tearing up Joe Biden's electric-car fuel economy targets.

And the automaker that swore off gasoline is pocketing more from the rollback than three rivals combined.

Duffy's Rule Drops the 2031 Target to 34.9 MPG

The Transportation Department is calling it the "Freedom Means Affordable Cars" initiative.

Under Biden, the fuel economy target for model year 2031 was 50.4 miles per gallon.

Duffy's rule resets it to 34.9.

For perspective, DOT says the fleet averaged 30.1 mpg in model year 2024.

Biden wanted automakers to leap more than 20 miles per gallon in seven years.

No gas-powered pickup on earth gets there – which was the whole point.

"Thanks to President Trump's leadership, we have finally ended the illegal mandate that forced automakers to produce more expensive electric vehicles," Duffy said.

DOT estimates the reset knocks about $1,300 off the average new vehicle and saves Americans $138 billion over five years.

Starting with model year 2028, automakers can no longer trade fuel economy credits with each other.

From model year 2030 on, vehicles get classified by how they are actually used, ending the light-truck label games that dodged tougher targets.

The new standards take effect in early December.

GM Walks Away With $20.4 Billion

DOT's numbers put GM's compliance technology bill through 2031 at $31.7 billion under the Biden rules.

The reset slices about $20.4 billion off that bill.

Stellantis saves $6.6 billion, Ford saves $5.8 billion, Toyota saves $4.5 billion, and Honda saves $4.1 billion.

Industry-wide, the savings hit $60.6 billion.

GM alone captures roughly one-third of it.

The reason is simple.

GM builds the Silverados, Tahoes, and Suburbans that working Americans actually buy, and under Biden's targets every one of them was a liability.

GM now says it supports the rule's "intention to better align fuel economy standards with market realities."

Market realities is a polite way of saying customers never wanted what Washington was ordering.

Mary Barra Bet GM on an All-Electric Future and Lost Billions

Rewind to January 2021.

Days after Biden took office, GM under CEO Mary Barra unveiled its pledge to go tailpipe-free on new light-duty vehicles by 2035.

Translation – no more gas-powered Silverados.

The climate crowd threw GM a parade.

In 2023, GM paid $128.2 million in federal fuel economy penalties for model years 2016 and 2017.

Even while writing that check, a GM spokeswoman insisted the company was "committed to an all-electric future."

Then reality showed up.

The $7,500 federal EV tax credit expired in September 2025, and buyers did not come running.

In January 2026, GM announced a $6 billion writedown for pulling back on its EV plans.

Roughly $4.2 billion of it was cash owed to suppliers who had tooled up for far more electric vehicles than GM ended up building.

Taxpayers bailed GM out in 2009.

A dozen years later, the company bet its future on the cars Washington wanted instead of the trucks its customers wanted.

Now that same company is the single biggest winner of Trump's gas-car comeback.

Truck Buyers Earned This Win and GM Is Cashing the Check

Biden never had the votes to ban gas cars, so his regulators reached for the mileage rules instead.

Automakers had two choices – pour tens of billions into EVs or buy compliance credits from rivals like Tesla.

Either way, you paid for it at the dealership.

The contractor buying a work truck in Tulsa paid for it.

The grandparents trading in a Buick for something with room for the grandkids paid for it too.

Peter Van Doren of the Cato Institute has argued that CAFE burdens low-income households hardest and has pushed buyers into bigger, heavier vehicles that make crashes deadlier.

In July 2025, President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill zeroed out CAFE penalties entirely.

Duffy's rule finishes the job by resetting the standards themselves.

GM did not see the light on its own.

Its customers dragged it there by buying Tahoes instead of the EVs Barra kept promising.

That $20.4 billion belongs to them.

If GM is serious about "market realities," the savings should show up on the sticker of the next Silverado and not in a press release about the next electric moonshot.

Sources:

• U.S. Department of Transportation, "President Trump & Transportation Secretary Duffy Finalize 'Freedom Means Affordable Cars' Initiative to Reset Fuel Economy Standards, End Illegal EV Mandate," DOT Briefing Room, September 28, 2026.
• Earl Lee, "GM Emerges as Biggest Winner From U.S. Fuel Economy Rollback," Autoblog, September 29, 2026.
• Jonathan Lopez, "GM Will Save $20 Billion Through 2031 With Revised Fuel Economy Rules, Says US DOT," GM Authority, September 29, 2026.
• Jonathan Lopez, "GM Writing Down Another $6 Billion for Cutting Back on EV Investments," GM Authority, January 9, 2026.
• Jonathan Shieber, "GM Pledges to Be Carbon Neutral by 2040 With Zero Tailpipe Emission Vehicles by 2035," TechCrunch, January 28, 2021.
• Riley Beggin, "Stellantis, GM Fined $363 Million in Fuel Economy Penalties," The Detroit News, June 2, 2023.
• Peter Van Doren, "CAFE Standards," Cato Institute, June 30, 2025.