New York (CNN Business)President Joe Biden celebrated ambitious electric vehicles goals by automakers at the White House on Thursday. But he did so without the world's largest maker of EVs: Tesla.
Joining Biden were executives from General Motors (GM) and Ford (F), as well as Stellantis, the company formed by the merger earlier this year of Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA. But electric vehicles are only a sliver of these companies' US sales — 1.5% for GM and 1.3% for Ford so far this year, and Stellantis doesn't have any pure EVs for sale on US soil yet.
"Yeah, seems odd that Tesla wasn't invited," the company's CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet overnight.
One potential reason for the apparent snub: The United Auto Workers union will also be at the ceremony. The UAW represents workers at GM, Ford and Stellantis, but has been battling, so far unsuccessfully, to organize Tesla workers at the EV maker's plant in Fremont, California.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about Tesla's absence at her briefing Thursday ahead of the event.
"Well, we of course welcome the efforts of automakers who recognize the potential of an electric vehicle future and support efforts that will help reach the President's goal, and certainly Tesla is one of those companies," Psaki said. "I would not expect this is the last time we talk about clean cars and the move towards electric vehicles, and we look forward to having a range of partners in that effort."
Asked if Tesla being a nonunion...
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