By Mike Colias

(Reuters) -General Motors is scrapping a program aimed at allowing its dealers to continue offering for several months a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles following the Sept. 30 expiration of the federal subsidy, the company said Wednesday.

Toward the end of last month, GM devised a plan to have its in-house lending arm initiate the purchase of EVs in its dealers’ inventory. The company planned to apply for the federal $7,500 credit on those cars hours ahead of the deadline, and then roll that money into EV lease terms for customers.

The idea behind the program was to ease the impact of the expiration of the tax credit on dealers, who worried that they would be stuck with EVs that would be tough to sell. GM had planned to apply for the credit on tens of thousands of

See Full Page