At a recent press conference at the White House about proposed fuel standard changes, a number of statements were made about the automotive industry since President Donald Trump took office that pertain to car buyers and manufacturing.
Some of the statements were made by Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, of Ohio, on Dec. 3 after the president announced a proposed reversal of stringent emissions standards put in place by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
The statements by Moreno, a known critic of the now expired electric vehicle federal tax incentive, were about such topics as an increase in the percentage of vehicles being sold here and also being made here since Trump took office; an assertion that new car prices are coming down; and another about how the eradication of the $7,500 federal tax credit on the purchase of an electric vehicle was the right thing to do and why.
Moreno’s comments followed Trump’s announcement. After others commented, Moreno stepped forward for his turn at the microphone, stating he had just “two quick things” of importance to say, which turned into three.
The Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, put all those statements before auto industry experts with access to data to fact-check them for accuracy. Here are their answers.
What Moreno said: “The person who sat behind this desk before you (meaning Biden) gave $7,500 dollars to multimillionaires who are leasing electric Rolls-Royces, electric Porches, electric Lamborghinis — were getting $7,500 from the taxpayer. These Democrats sit on the floor and say Republicans are for millionaires and billionaires, we are the opposite of giving $7,500 to multimillionaires for electric vehicles.”
Moreno, who is the first car dealer ever elected to the U.S. Senate, has been a long-time critic of the federal tax credit on EV purchases, saying it artificially inflated demand for EVs rather than letting the market dictate the desire for the vehicles.
First of all, Lamborghini does not make an electric vehicle. Moreno clarified to the Detroit Free Press on Monday that he was referring to the Lamborghini Urus SE, a plug-in hybrid, a vehicle with both an electric motor and a gasoline engine, which qualified for the tax credit.
Also, several experts told the Free Press the vast majority of the people getting the tax credits were buying EVs made by Ford Motor, General Motors, Hyundai, Kia, Volkswagen and Tesla Model 3 and Model Y.
We asked Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at Telemetry, to give us more insight.
“Between those brands they accounted for more than 90% of EV sales,” said Abuelsamid. “Porsche has only sold 16,000 Taycans and only those that were leased could get the credit, not those purchased. Rolls-Royce hasn’t published Spectre production numbers but it’s in the dozens at most.”
Beyond that, Abuelsamid explained that the tax laws were designed to favor lower income people.
“When the Inflation Reduction Act was passed under the Biden administration, they completely revamped the tax credit program. The original program signed into law by (former President) George W. Bush, a Republican, was part of the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008,” Abuelsamid said.
The Bush program allowed carmakers to offer a $7,500 tax credit to EV buyers, but once the automaker sold 200,000 units, the credit was phased out.
“The only automakers that ever reached that threshold were GM and Tesla with GM selling Volts and Bolts, not exactly Rolls-Royces,” Abuelsamid said.
The 2022 IRA credit program got rid of the sales cap, replacing it with income and price caps on the credits. So the credits for new vehicles were only allowed for single filers with an adjusted gross income of $150,000 and married filing jointly of $300,000, Abuelsamid said.
Moreover, the $7,500 new EV tax credit applied to vehicles with a manufacturer suggested retail price of $80,000 or less for vans, SUVs and pickup trucks and $55,000 or less for all other passenger vehicles. 
There was a part of the program that allowed the credit for commercial vehicle transactions without the price cap or the domestic production requirements, Abuelsamid said. The Internal Revenue Service interpreted a lease transaction as qualifying for the tax credit “because the vehicle was purchased from the manufacturer by the leasing company as a commercial transaction and then leased, so most leasing companies factored the credit into the lease payment calculation,” Abuelsamid said.
This would be where the buyers of high-end EVs might benefit, but again, it is likely a small percentage that benefitted from the tax credit.
What Moreno said: “Because of your (Trump’s) policies, at the beginning of the year, 51% of the cars sold in America were made in America, 51%. That’s before you got sworn in. Last month, that number was 57%. We moved it six points. Which nobody thought would be possible in four years; we did it in 10 months. That’s something maybe the news should cover a little bit more.”
The “policies” Moreno refers to is likely the 25% tariff Trump implemented in March on all imported cars and auto parts as a way to encourage more U.S. production of both. A tariff is a tax an importer pays when a good crosses a border.
We asked the analysts at Edmunds.com and Cox Automotive if Moreno’s figures were correct. Analysts at both indicated that directionally, yes, but it doesn’t necessarily mean more factories are going up to build more cars here.
“Our data shows U.S.-assembled vehicle listings moved from approximately 50% before late March to around 53% after tariff implementation,” said Erin Keating, executive analyst at Cox Automotive. “However, it’s important to distinguish between production mix adjustments and new manufacturing capacity. What we’re likely seeing is manufacturers optimizing their existing footprint, increasing production runs of U.S.-built models while holding back slower-moving imported inventory.”
She said rollout of model year 2026 vehicles and pre-planned new factory openings, such as Hyundai’s new EV plant in Georgia, would also contribute to these figures.
“In short, this reflects production strategy responding to market conditions rather than a fundamental expansion of domestic manufacturing infrastructure,” Keating said.
Abuelsamid added that the increase in the percentage of cars being sold here also being made here is likely due to big incentive sales put on domestic-made vehicles that helped boost their sales over foreign-made rivals.
“It’s mostly down to an increase in large truck and SUV sales, which were juiced by incentives,” Abuelsamid said. “The domestics all had aggressive employee pricing deals in the spring and early summer on inventory before the tariffs really kicked in.”
What Moreno said: “And we’ve driven down the price of automobiles. Car prices for consumers are down.”
We went to Edmunds for some numbers. Their data for the average transaction prices — that’s what a consumer pays after deducting all incentives and trade-in values — for new-vehicles show that those prices are not being driven down. Instead, average transaction prices have continued to rise modestly all year, and appear to be leveling off as inventory improves and incentives slowly return.
According to Edmunds, the average transaction price for a new car in October was $49,105, up 3.1% from October 2024 when it was $47,612. But it is down slightly, 0.2%, compared with September 2025’s $49,206. 
Abuelsamid added that his data shows prices are not decreasing at all, and that 20% of monthly car payments are now over $1,000 and more than 20% of loans now exceed seven years.
“Used car average transaction prices are also starting to climb again because people can’t afford new cars,” Abuelsamid said. “A 3-year-old used car average transaction price is now $30,000.”
In fact, earlier this month, industry analysts forecasted new vehicle sales are slowing this year as consumers keep their cars longer or look to older used vehicles amid escalating prices. It is a trend expected to go through the end of this year and into next year.
As long as interest rates remain high and economic uncertainty prevails, affordability will be a challenge, Keating, of Cox, told the Detroit Free Press on Dec. 1.
“December and January will expose the gap between what dealers need to move and what consumers can actually afford or are willing to buy since we know December tends to be good for luxury brands especially,” Keating said. “Expect tactical discounting dressed up as ‘year-end events’ while the real story is payment-fatigued buyers who’ve run out of willingness to stretch.”
 Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer for USA Today Co. who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.

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