US Loosens Truck MPG Standards In An Effort To Win Support
There’s no question that the US Federal government’s proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards have drawn a lot of fire and widespread opposition from automakers, especially as the Obama administration is now pushing for a 56 miles per gallon fleet average target by 2025.
In particular, General Motors and Chrysler, still on the road to recovery after receiving Government assistance in 2008-09 have expressed dismay at the proposed standards, since large trucks and SUVs, which will find the regulations tougher to meet, still represent a sizeable portion of their profits.
As a result, in an effort to win support for it’s fuel economy plan, the Obama administration is considering proposals that would loosen the requirements for large trucks and SUVs, giving automakers, namely the Detroit three, a larger window with which to comply with the new regulations.
This would mean an improvement of 3.5 mpg per year, instead of the 5 mpg increments required by passenger cars and smaller trucks and SUVs.
Import automakers, whose product portofolios tend to focus more on smaller cars and SUVs, claim these changes would give their Detroit rivals an unfair advantage, citing that such proposals would ultimately defeat the objective of the proposed CAFE requirements.
This isn’t first time this year the Feds have backed off on proposed fuel economy standards. Originally ,the mandate for 2025 was a 60 miles per gallon fleet average, though widespread opposition reduced it to the current 56 mpg proposal.
[Source: Automotive News]
More by Huw Evans
Comments
Join the conversation