Ford Cancels $7,500 EV Lease Credit Extension Following Pressure From Republican Senators

Good morning! It's Friday, October 10, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, Ford follows in GM's footsteps by caving to Republican pressure and ending its $7,500 EV lease credit extension early, Factory Zero employees are going to remain on furlough through the end of the year, BMW beat out Lexus to retake the luxury sales crown, and Toyota is recalling nearly 400,000 vehicles because of a rearview camera issue.

Ford is canceling its own version of an electric vehicle leasing program that effectively extended the EV $7,500 federal tax credit that expired on September 30. The news comes just a few days after General Motors abruptly canceled its identical plan thanks to pressure from two Republican senators who claim the automakers were "bilking the U.S. taxpayer." Give me a break. Ford said it would continue to offer discounted leases on EVs through December, but it would do so without claiming the tax credit. It's not immediately clear if those discounts equal the $7,500 credit amount. GM, on the other hand, will run its $7,500 credit program through the end of October. 

Both automakers used their financing arms to make pre-emptive down payments on EVs that were already in dealership inventory before the tax credits expired on September 30. It — theoretically — allowed them to claim the tax credit on those vehicles and give the benefit of that incentive to customers who later agreed to lease them. From Automotive News:

"Ford will not claim the EV tax credit but will maintain the competitive lease payments we have in the market today to continue providing customers with more affordable electric vehicle options," spokesperson Said Deep said in an Oct. 9 statement. "For customers who want to purchase an electric vehicle, Ford Credit continues to offer 0 percent financing for 72 months and other incentives."

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GM reversed course Oct. 8 after Sen. Bernie Moreno, a former dealer who represents Ohio, and Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming contacted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the companies' plans to use what the senators called a "loophole" in the law eliminating the tax credit.

The IRS in August issued guidance saying the credit still could be claimed if a vehicle was "placed in service" after September, so long as the vehicle already had been acquired with payment made.

While deals like these might sound like a good way to help customers save money on the vehicles they'd like to buy, not everyone (read: Republican senators who used to be dealers) agrees.

"This guidance, while well intentioned, is unfortunately being taken advantage of by certain car companies who wish to continue bilking the U.S. taxpayer," Moreno and Barrasso wrote to Bessent in a letter dated Sept. 30. "It has come to our attention that certain car companies are gaming this guidance by instructing their captive financial entities to enter into written binding agreements with dealers for electric vehicles, paying a nominal downpayment, to secure the credits on vehicles that may not be leased to the end user for months. Given this concerning information, we write to request your assistance to close this loophole and address the total violation of Congressional intent by these nefarious actors."

When AutoNews asked Ford why it was canceling the program just two weeks after it was rolled out, the automaker said, "Ford makes its own decisions." 

We've reached out to Ford for more clarity on the situation, and we'll update this story when and if we get more information.

Nearly 280 workers at General Motors' Factory Zero electric vehicle manufacturing plant will remain on layoff for the rest of the calendar year. The automaker told employees at the Detroit-Hamtramck facility on August 27 that it planned to partially shut down first- and second-shift production temporarily starting on September 2. GM builds the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Escalade IQ at the facility. From the Detroit Free Press:

"As recently shared, General Motors is making strategic production adjustments in alignment with expected slower EV industry growth and customer demand," said a statement sent by GM spokesman Kevin Kelly. "We will continue to evaluate and adjust operations based on the market and customer demand."

GM first said on April 10 that it was temporarily cutting approximately 200 jobs. About 160 more workers started a layoff the day after Labor Day and were meant to return to work Oct. 6.

About 80 of the originally impacted employees received job opportunities within the company.

It's pretty wild that, for all the build-up surrounding Factory Zero and all of the delays it faced before opening, it's already dealing with prolonged temporary layoffs. Hopefully, for these workers' sake, things are back up and running sooner rather than later.

BMW won back the top luxury sales spot from Lexus in the third quarter of 2025, selling 96,886 vehicles to beat the Japanese automaker by a tight margin of 5,277 units. Lexus made itself the sales king in Q2 of this year, but it seems that victory was rather short-lived. In any case, both automakers are expected to set sales records this year.

Part of BMW's strategy right now is bringing in 2026 model year vehicles early. According to Edmunds data, 2026 MY vehicles made up 51% of BMW Q3 sales and just 4.8% of Lexus'. However, Lexus dealers were able to turn inventory faster in the quarter. BMW's took an average of 46 days to sell, whereas the average Lexus was gone in 22 days. From Automotive News:

BMW's third-quarter sales surged 25 percent from a year earlier, when the brand was hampered by a significant recall and stop-sale for faulty brake modules.

Strong demand for BMW's plug-in hybrids and crossovers powered sales in the quarter. Plug-in hybrid deliveries rose 37 percent from last year, offsetting a 16 percent slide in EV sales.

Shaun Bugbee, executive vice president of operations for BMW of North America, attributed the weaker EV sales to limited supply.

BMW took a "measured reduction" in EV production in May and June, when there was uncertainty about tariffs, customer demand and the federal tax credit, Bugbee said.

The brand's EV sales in September increased more than 30 percent as buyers rushed to dealerships before the federal subsidy expired at month's end.

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Lexus' third-quarter sales reached 91,609, up 13 percent from last year.

Shawn Domeracki, Lexus' vice president of sales and dealer development, said the brand's U.S. sales were on track to achieve a record of about 355,000 for the year.

He credited two models for driving the pace: the redesigned GX midsize SUV and the three-row TX large crossover. Through nine months, GX sales were up 35 percent this year, at 28,244, while TX volume increased 86 percent to 39,546.

Coming in third was Mercedes-Benz. In the quarter, sales actually fell 13% to about 73,500 passenger vehicles. The automaker attributed the decline to higher sales earlier in the year. There may be something to that. Through the third quarter, retail sales were up 6% to about 223,800 vehicles — putting MB on track to surpass last year's rough total of 302,000 vehicles.

Overall, the U.S. luxury segment grew 4.5% in the third quarter, which is actually slightly less than the 5.6% the rest of the market grew. Rounding out the top five when it comes to luxury sales were Audi (46,758 vehicles) and Cadillac (46,525 vehicles — up 25% year-over-year).

Toyota is recalling about 394,000 2022-2025 Tundras and Tundra Hybrids, as well as 2023-2025 Sequoia Hybrids, because of an issue with the rearview camera. Apparently, there's some sort of software issue with the 14-inch infotainment screen that might cause it to display a "half green, full green, or full black screen. This is not ideal, especially in trucks this big. From USA Today:

"If this occurs while the vehicle is being reversed, the vehicle may not meet a federal safety standard and there can be an increased risk of a crash with a person behind the vehicle," Toyota said in an Oct. 1 notice.

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While three different models were technically included in the recall, Toyota clarified that only "certain" vehicles might be experiencing the issue.

Toyota dealers will update the multimedia display software at no cost to owners, and if you own one of these cars, you should expect to get your notification by the end of November.

History.com

I've gotta admit, "Here I Go Again" (and all of Whitesnake's discography) isn't really my taste in music, but it's impossible to deny it's iconic. It also reminds me of Frank the Tank and his Pontiac Trans Am every single time I hear it. If you want to learn more about the sold, head over to History.com.

George was the best Beatle. Please feel free to argue with a wall. At the very least, he had the best solo career out of the four of them.