SUVs get tougher fuel rules

[divinewisdom]

Automakers will make the largest fuel-economy increase to sport-utility vehicles, pickup trucks and minivans in 20 years under new rules federal regulators issued Tuesday

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will require automakers to raise the corporate average fuel economy for light trucks by 1.5 miles per gallon between model years 2005 and 2007.

Environmentalists view the increase as too small, but automakers said that meeting the new fuel-economy standards will be a challenge. More than half the vehicles U.S. automakers sell are in the light-truck category.

"In order to meet the target, we're going to have to change American buying habits," said Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents the automakers. "Nonetheless, we are committed to meeting it and working with NHTSA."

General Motors Corp. spokesman Chris Preuss said the new standards give foreign competitors an unfair advantage because they sell more passenger cars.


NHTSA's assumption that the technologies needed to make the improvements will pay for themselves through fuel savings is also overestimated, he said.

Environmental groups say a 1.5-mile-per-gallon increase over the next few years is only a drop in the bucket given the advanced technologies the auto companies have to improve fuel efficiency.

"The agency's rule making on this matter is a sham," Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook said in a statement. "NHTSA failed to budge from its proposal last fall, deciding instead to ratify numbers it had already set, despite receiving tens of thousands of comments from citizens calling for a tougher standard."

Under the rule, which NHTSA proposed in December and adopted after a public comment period, the current standard of 20.7 miles per gallon will increase to 21 miles per gallon in model year 2005, 21.6 miles per gallon in model year 2006 and 22.2 miles per gallon in model year 2007.

The current standard for passenger cars is 27.5 miles per gallon.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, have introduced legislation to close the gap between SUV and passenger car fuel economy. The bill calls for SUVs to achieve 27.5 miles per gallon by 2011. That would save 1 million barrels of a day and reduce dependence on foreign imports by 10 percent, they argue.

The country uses 8.8 million gallons of gasoline a day, according to the Energy Department.

NHTSA administrator Dr. Jeffrey Runge said the new requirements reflect the Bush administration's commitment to "improving vehicle fuel economy while protecting passenger safety and American jobs."

This is the first change in the federal fuel economy regulations that vehicles in the light-truck segment must meet since Congress froze the current standard in 1996.

NHTSA estimates the total cost for the industry to meet the target is $170 million for model year 2005, $537 million for model year 2006 and $862 million for model year 2007.

Improving the fuel economy of sport-utilities and other light trucks has become a contentious issue among environmental groups, especially given the war with Iraq.

Jason Mark, who heads the clean vehicles program for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the new standard "seems out of place given the priority of saving oil.

"The automakers' response is disappointing given all the technology that they've described as coming to market," Mark said.

Some fuel-saving technologies include hybrid vehicles, which save gas by combining an electric motor and an internal combustion engine, and engines that feature displacement on demand, which shuts down half of the engine's cylinders at highway speeds.

Mark also added that the 1.5-mile-per-gallon improvement over the next few years is less than what some automakers are offering already. For instance, he estimates Ford Motor Co. can get a 1.8-mile-per-gallon improvement in the same period.

NEW STANDARDS
The increase in light-truck fuel economy standards adopted by NHTSA:

Current standard: 20.7 miles per gallon

Model year 2005: 21 miles per gallon.

Model year 2006: 21.6 miles per gallon.

Model year 2007: 22.2 miles per gallon

auto