Automakers were forced to choose sides during the Trump administration. It was not an easy position to be in. One option was to join the federal government's more lax greenhouse gas emissions proposal, and the other was to side with California, which called for a complete sales ban of new combustion-engine vehicles beginning in 2035, among other things. Ford, Volkswagen, and Honda joined the Golden State. General Motors initially didn't but just a few weeks ago switched sides. And now the final holdouts have done that as well, according to Reuters.

Toyota, Stellantis (formerly FCA), Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Subaru, Mitsubishi, and the National Automobile Dealers Association has just aligned themselves with the new Biden administration's sweeping proposal to "achieve year-over-year improvements" in fuel economy standards.

The new and very appropriately renamed group, the Coalition for Sustainable Automotive Regulation (CSAR), is all-in with Biden's initiatives, which are closely aligned with California's. "In a gesture of good faith and to find a constructive path forward, the CSAR has decided to withdraw from this lawsuit in order to unify the auto industry behind a single national program, with ambitious, achievable standards."

The Trump administration sued California to try and prevent it from setting its own emissions and mileage standards, something it has done for years. California argued it was a state's right issue, and over a dozen other states joined those California's standards. Governor Gavin Newsom even signed the EV-only sales declaration on the hood of a Ford Mustang Mach-E.

The Justice Department recently asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to put the California emissions litigation on hold. "Biden has directed agencies to quickly reconsider Trump's 2019 decision to revoke California's authority to set its own auto tailpipe emissions standards and require rising numbers of zero-emission vehicles as well as Trump's national fuel economy rollback," the report states.

Another auto industry trade group, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, has also announced it wants to strike a deal with Biden. Instead of the Trump-era fuel economy standards, it will propose something in between that and those of the Obama-era.