Canada expects to announce this week that all new cars will have to be zero emissions by 2035, a senior government source said, as Ottawa is set to unveil new regulations in the latest example of countries around the world pushing for electrification.
Although this is likely to never happen in the States, the fact that a large number of other countries like Canada and most of Europe are making these changes means it'll become impractical to keep a separate line of ICE engines going as demand for electric vehicles grows worldwide.
This is happening in some of the States. California, Oregon and New York have bans for 2035 and Washington state even for 2030. The New England states seem to want to ban it too by 2035. Hawaii looks at a 2030 ban.
That is not quite settled. The development of a new model takes something like four years and the basic tech a bit longer. The more places ban it, the more brands will actually honor their fossil phase out.
Eh, I have a genuinely hard time believing that companies who rely on what's going to eventually be 'free' and 'clean' energy aren't going to capitalize on it and make bank. Especially with the cultural zeitgeist of younger generations hating on fossil fuels.
It's a fools errand to invest in fossil fuels. In the end, those fuels can just be shipped to your local power plant anyway until better nuclear comes along.
The Saudis have active plans to work with car makers to sell super cheap IC cars into the African market. Qatar owns a 17% stake in Volkswagen already. That might be used for similar purposes.