President Joe Biden indulged his inner “car guy” on Wednesday, revving a new Corvette at the Detroit Auto Show and joking that he’d be driving home to Washington.
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden indulged his inner “car guy” on Wednesday, revving a new Corvette at the Detroit Auto Show and joking that he’d be driving home to Washington.
Biden toured the show on its preview day, and in remarks later plans to highlight electric-vehicle offerings that he’s hailed as a breakthrough for the US auto sector. As a longtime Corvette owner who has vowed to buy the first electric version of the venerable sports car whenever it’s available, he couldn’t resist a chance to sit in the latest model, which has an internal combustion engine.
The auto show has lost some of its luster, with many foreign manufacturers and independent electric-vehicle makers — including Tesla Inc. — having little or no presence. The event returned for the first time since 2019.
Biden boasted about the speed of some of the vehicles on display. He sat in an all-electric Chevrolet truck, drove a Cadillac and touted the Mustang Mach-E.
“Zero to sixty in three seconds,” Biden said.
“Three-point-five, but who’s counting,” Ford Chairman Bill Ford replied.
The Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law last month, includes incentives intended to spur investment in domestic EV production.
But fewer than a dozen of the EV and plug-in hybrid models among the hundreds of vehicles on display at the show would be eligible for tax credits of as much as $7,500, according to a Bloomberg analysis.
Read more: Biden Takes Detroit Victory Lap Surrounded by EVs With No Rebate
Michigan is also a crucial swing state with a key governor’s race this year. A Biden ally, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, is seeking re-election and joined him at the show Wednesday.
Michigan Representative Debbie Dingell, who also accompanied Biden to the event, brushed aside questions about politics.
“This is about celebrating cars today, guys,” she told reporters traveling with Biden. “He’s a car guy — talk about him being a car guy surrounded by car girls.”
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan called Biden “America’s most prominent ‘car guy,”’ a term Biden often uses to describe himself.
Biden owns a General Motors Co. 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray. He joked recently that his son Beau Biden, who died in 2015, would come down from heaven and “smite me” if he ever tried to sell the car.
Biden’s tour of the auto show’s floor ended with him driving by reporters in an electric Cadillac Lyriq, joking that it was an Uber.
“It’s a beautiful car,” he said. “But I like the Corvette.”
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