What do the US presidential candidates drive?
11/05/2024 11:45 PM
Not only could the U.S. presidential candidates not be further apart in their views, but their choice of cars also separates them.
It’s election day in the United States. What better way to celebrate the differences between the main candidates and their vice presidents than by looking at their personal choices for vehicles?
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Of course, the big players in the election race are carted around in a hugely expensive motorcade with a decoy car and a limousine better fortified than a maximum-security prison.
In fact, the current limousine, introduced with former President Donald Trump, was expected to cost $2.1 million, but media reports say General Motors was paid as much as $22 million for the new models. The Secret Service has given the vehicle the nickname ‘Stagecoach’, and you can read about it in our November 2020 story.
But what do the presidential candidates and their vice presidents have in their garage? It turns out they couldn’t be more different from each other.
Kamala Harris – Chevrolet Bolt
Believe it or not, current and former presidents and vice presidents are not allowed to operate motor vehicles on public roads. Most former presidents agree that this is one of the worst parts of running the country. Because Kamala Harris is a current vice president, it means she is not allowed to operate a vehicle.
Harris has been an advocate for electric vehicles as a vice president and presidential candidate. She was last spotted with a Chevrolet Bolt in 2022.
This compact EV is built on the General Motors BEV II platform. It provides a five-door small hatchback with full electric power through a 149kW electric motor combined with a 66kWh battery.
We did not get the Chevrolet Bolt in Australia, and representatives for General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) would not confirm to Drive if the Bolt is planned for Australia in the 2023 story. Still, they have offered a cheap choice for Americans looking to get into an electric vehicle.
Starting at under $US30,000 ($AU45,000), the Bolt undercuts a lot of the other small-hatch EVs in the USA.
While the Bolt was the last vehicle we saw Harris in, it’s unlikely that we will ever see her in another personal vehicle again, even if she doesn’t win the presidential race, given her previous vice presidency.
Tim Walz – International Harvester Scout II
Tim Walz is on track to be Kamala Harris’ vice president if she wins the presidential race, and he’s a bit of a car enthusiast himself.
In late 2008, Walz got his hands on one of his dream vehicles: a 1979 International Harvester Scout II. The spectacular classic SUV is in immaculate condition and brandishes the licence plate “ONE MN”, a reference to his political slogan “One Minnesota”.
The International Harvester Scout has become an extremely collectable vehicle over the past few decades due to its short production run and unique nature. Just over 500,000 Scouts were made between 1961 and the model’s end in 1980.
Walz owns the big dog of the Harvester Scout range, the 5.7L International Motors V8 with a 3-speed automatic transmission, four-wheel drive, and optional cruise control.
The prospective vice-president has been using his classic ride as a talking point for his campaign while he works on it himself.
It’s safe to say that Walz will dearly miss his Harvester Scout II if his party wins the presidential race.
Donald Trump – Multiple classic vehicles
Donald Trump is in the same boat as Kamala Harris. Having previously held the presidency, he is no longer allowed to drive his own cars on public roads. However, that doesn’t stop the presidential candidate from having an impressive garage.
Trump was easily characterised as a fan of Rolls Royce when he was a businessman turned TV star as the host of The Apprentice. Having owned numerous models from the British brand, his garage houses a 1956 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud and a 2015 Phantom.
Surprisingly, the 2015 Phantom is one of the only vehicles Trump has been spotted driving recently, just before becoming president in 2017.
His other rides include a bright electric blue 1997 Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster with a 5.7-litre V12, a 2003 Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren with a 5.5-litre V8, an armoured 2015 Mercedes-Maybach S600, and an armoured Cadillac Escalade.
Perhaps one of the most surprising is that multiple reports have stated that Trump owns a Tesla Roadster, the first mass-produced car from the EV-only brand, although no photos have been shown of the US presidential candidate with the Lotus Elise-based sports car.
JD Vance – Chevrolet Suburban or Ford Expedition
JD Vance’s personal vehicles are somewhat of a mystery; Trump’s vice president pick is rarely seen in a vehicle that is not a motorcade or protected fleet.
Unlike Trump and Walz, Vance is seemingly not much of a car guy in his private time but does seem to have a taste for large American-made SUVs.
Spotted out the driveway of his home in Cincinnati, Ohio, is always either a black late model Chevrolet Suburban or a silver Ford Expedition, neither of which we receive on the Australian market.
Given JD Vance’s outspoken position in American politics, it is unlikely that we will ever see the US vice presidential candidate in a personal car.
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