The $7,500 federal EV tax credit offered by the U.S. government in some form or another since 2008 was targeted for cancellation when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President this summer. Effective September 30, 2025, government support for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles ended. Automakers are rightfully concerned that sales of their EVs will plummet in the coming months, though General Motors and Ford may have discovered a loophole to extend access to the incentive through the end of the year.
Reuters is reporting both automakers have instructed their financing divisions to purchase existing EV inventory by making an initial down payment on them. GM and Ford dealers are then offering those EVs for lease after September 30 with the $7,500 already incorporated into the lease rate.
What’s The Catch?
There’s no catch. GM and Ford are both playing by the rules that were clarified recently by the Internal Revenue Service. According to the IRS, a down payment before September 30 was all that’s required to secure the government’s $7,500 incentive, even if the car itself is delivered later. These automakers are simply purchasing their own EVs through their financial arms with a small down payment in order to secure the tax credit before it ends.
Ford told CarBuzz it will offer these lease deals through December 31, and customers must use Ford Credit for their vehicle financing. GM, meanwhile, told InsideEVs that the program exists only at participating dealers, while supplies last.
While most expect EV sales to begin declining sharply immediately, the loophole that GM and Ford have discovered may lessen the blow. Other automakers, however, are left to fend for themselves in a new world without the modern EV tax credit. Some will slash the prices of their EVs to keep customers interested, while others will let their EVs sink or swim without the incentives.
TopSpeed’s Take
The very fact that automakers such as GM and Ford are bending over backwards to keep offering their customers the $7,500 federal tax credit suggests neither automakers nor consumers wanted it to be canceled. Nevertheless, a bill was passed and signed into law doing just that, so the market is doing whatever possible to make the transition as painless as possible.
The question everyone is asking is, will people still buy EVs without the incentive? The answer is most likely yes, considering many EVs didn’t qualify for it to begin with and were still relatively popular. Yes, it’s true, even those EVs that didn’t qualify could still get the tax credit through leasing, which is why leasing rates for EVs have been artificially high over the last few years. Nevertheless, automakers will continue pricing their EVs aggressively and customers will likely continue transitioning more and more to an electrified future… with or without federal incentives.