US PRESIDENT Barack Obama has announced the toughest emission and mileage standards yet for cars made in the United States, ordering manufacturers to increase fuel efficiency by almost 40 per cent by 2016.
The new rules, which will take effect from 2012, will mean that the average mileage for US cars and light trucks would increase to 35.5 miles per gallon from today’s 25.
“For the first time in history, we have set in motion a national policy aimed at both increasing gas mileage and decreasing greenhouse gas pollution for all new trucks and cars sold in the United States of America,” Mr Obama said, introducing the plan in the White House Rose Garden.
Mr Obama was joined by representatives of the auto industry, unions, environmental watchdogs, members of Congress and the governors of California, Michigan and Massachusetts. The new standards are similar to those California and 13 other states have sought to impose unilaterally.
The administration acknowledges that the improved standards will add about $1,300 to the cost of each new vehicle. The White House estimates, however, that the changes will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil by 2016 and be equivalent to taking 177 million cars off the road in terms of reducing carbon emissions.
Mr Obama said he was able to bring previously competing interests together behind the new rules because everyone understood that the status quo was no longer acceptable.
“While the United States makes up less than 5 per cent of the world’s population, we create roughly a quarter of the world’s demand for oil. And this appetite comes at a tremendous price – a price measured by our vulnerability to volatile oil markets, which send gas prices soaring and families scrambling,” he said.
“It’s measured by a trade deficit where as much as 20 per cent of what we spend on imports is spent on oil. It’s measured in billions of dollars sent to oil-exporting nations, many that we do not choose to support, if we had a choice. It’s measured in a changing climate, as sea levels rise, and droughts spread, forest burns, and storms rage.”
Until now, the big US car manufacturers have resisted government efforts to improve fuel efficiency, even as foreign brands have taken an ever bigger share of the American market with smaller, more efficient cars. With two of the three big carmakers – General Motors and Chrysler – on taxpayer-funded life support, the industry is in a weaker negotiating position this time.
“At a time of historic crisis in our auto industry, when domestic auto manufacturers are making painful choices and restructuring their businesses to be viable in the future, this rule provides the clear certainty that will allow these companies to plan for a future in which they are building the cars of the 21st century,” Mr Obama said.
“Yes, it costs money to develop these vehicles, but even as the price to build these cars and trucks goes up, the cost of driving these vehicles will go down, as drivers save money at the pump. And this is a point I want to emphasise: if you buy a car, your investment in a more fuel-efficient vehicle as a result of this standard will pay off in just three years . . . So this is a winning proposition.”
