Five automakers, representing Ford, Volkswagen, BMW Group, Honda and Volvo Cars, announced the filing of a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit to defend California's authority to set its own stringent emissions standards under the Clean Air Act.

The automakers issued the following joint statement on June 7:

"As the five original California Framework companies, we stood with California in 2020 in support of the state's ability to set stricter vehicle emissions standards. Today's decision by Ford, Volkswagen Group, BMW Group, Honda, and Volvo to intervene in this suit reaffirms that commitment. We urge the Court to affirm the EPA's Waiver Decision and allow California to protect people's health and combat climate change by setting clean air standards. Doing so would move us closer to a zero-emission transportation future and make a positive contribution to the global regulatory framework." – Honda, BMW, Ford Motor Company, Volkswagen Group, BMW Group, and Volvo Cars 

Key Excerpts from the Motion to Intervene  

• Ford, Volkswagen, BMW Group, Honda and Volvo Cars — which sold millions of motor vehicles in the United States in 2021 — support the Waiver Decision and California's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new light-duty motor vehicles. Ford, Volkswagen, BMW Group, Honda, and Volvo Cars are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in their own fleets. 

• California has long played an important role in regulating the automobile industry alongside EPA... as the industry continuously innovates and uses ever-lower-emitting technologies. This has helped enable the automobile manufacturers to address the emissions from motor vehicles they sell, including in states such as California where the effects of air pollution are especially severe.

• California's role as a leader in driving reductions in emissions from motor vehicles is critical to enabling the automobile industry to address these challenges effectively and under a consistent set of standards. Now, electrification is the innovation that will eliminate emissions from vehicles while also providing drivers with performance, power, and digital integration that was never possible before. Confirming the validity of the Waiver Decision will promote stability and regulatory certainty while the industry goes electric. 

• Honda, Ford, Volkswagen, BMW Group, and Volvo Cars have supported stricter greenhouse gas standards ... and agreed with California to abide by standards for model years 2021 and 2022 that are more stringent than the applicable federal rules. 

Ford executives also released the following statements regarding the significance of Ford’s environmental action.

“Ford is combatting climate change. We support the EPA’s recent Waiver Decision to allow California and other states to protect people’s health and combat climate change by establishing and enforcing air pollution standards and zero emission vehicle requirements. This is the right thing to do for people and the planet, but it also is critical to the automotive industry’s future success. It moves us closer to a zero-emissions transportation future, and it creates regulatory stability and a level regulatory playing field for the entire industry.” — Steven Croley, chief policy officer and general counsel 

“Ford is proud to have been the only full-line American automaker to take the side of more aggressive emissions standards in 2019 and we’re the only one to do so today. By joining this action, we are joining a diverse coalition of states and communities already feeling the impacts of climate change to advocate for the health, economic and mobility benefits electric vehicles can provide.” — Bob Holycross, chief sustainability, environment and safety engineering officer 

GM released a statement of its own support earlier this year.

Meanwhile, 17 Republican attorneys general have sued the EPA over the decision, alleging that the Clean Air Act waiver violates the Constitution's equal sovereignty doctrine.