CAFE: Fuel Economy Standards To Increase 8% To 27.3 MPG For 2011

[Intrepidation]

The U.S. Transportation Department today will mandate the first passenger car fuel economy increase since 1975. The 2011 model year will require a fleetwide 8% increase above 2010 model year requirements to 27.3 MPG.

The Obama administration's 2011 model year standard will require the nation's cars and trucks to meet a fleet average Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 27.3 MPG — that's 8 percent above the 2010 model year requirement of 25.3 MPG, an administration official confirmed Thursday night. The regulations for the 2011 model year are final.

But wait, there's more.

The Obama administration opted to finalize only the 2011 model year standards partly due to a requirement under a 2007 energy law to wrap up those regulations by Tuesday. Administration officials will spend the next year reviewing the 2012-15 model years as they seek a comprehensive emissions policy.

So what does this mean — can automakers reach those targets? In a word, yes. We'll let David Shepardson from The Detroit News explain:

The increase in fuel economy requirements for passenger cars is the first since Congress created the CAFE program in 1975. In the wake of the Arab oil embargo, it ordered automakers to boost fuel efficiency from 13 mpg to 27.5 mpg over a decade

Automakers have outstripped the federal requirements, making it easier in the short run for them to meet the new requirements. In the 2007 model year, automakers averaged 31.3 mpg for passenger cars, and 23.1 mpg for light trucks, above the 22.2 mpg mandate.

But the next two model years are not where this story ends — the Obama administration's expected to decide before May whether to give California and 13 other states permission from the EPA to impose a requirement of a 30% decrease in tailpipe emissions by 2016. If that regulation goes through, it would have the effect of a fleetwide fuel economy of 34.5 MPG by 2015. Yay! We all get to drive econoboxes!

Jalopnik

[loki]

too bad cars keep getting heavier along with these bumps in F.E..

13 mpg to 27.5 mpg over a decade

should also include what the weights of those cars were.

[DBeaSSt]

Translation: Buy your 2010 model year vehicle and keep it forever.

[EMan]

A mostly single occupant two wheel human power vehicle delivering approximately 85-95% of the power to the wheels and producing less than one tenth of CO2 per mile compared to a traditional automobile will be in everyone’s future. This vehicle features low resistant rolling tires, single frame design, dual shock absorbers, up to 42 gears (eat that smk) and it is available in a multitude of colors. This vehicle has been recorded to reach up to a 125 MPH speed (although average speeds will be around 20-25 mph) all this without using a single drop of gasoline. In additions to its benefits on the environment, it is believed to have great health benefits on its occupant, some studies shows the occupants increased their energy through the day, higher metabolic rate, loss of weight, longer endurance (she/he will be happy), and it might make you live longer.

[Hudson]

Translation: Buy your 2010 model year vehicle and keep it forever.

I'm sure someone said something like that in 1975...and the cars today are far superior to cars built at ANY TIME in history. I'm betting something similar will come about for 2015 and 2020.

[CaddyXLR-V]

I'm sure someone said something like that in 1975...and the cars today are far superior to cars built at ANY TIME in history. I'm betting something similar will come about for 2015 and 2020.

From 75 to most of the 90s most cars were pretty crappy. Those were some dark times for the automobile. I think we were just starting to get great cars again, and now it feels like we will be going right back to those dark times.

[gm4life]

Flog 'em while we got 'em. That is why my son or I will be getting a 5th generation Camaro 1SS within a few years!

[Chazman]

I'm sure someone said something like that in 1975...and the cars today are far superior to cars built at ANY TIME in history. I'm betting something similar will come about for 2015 and 2020.

Very possible.

[Intrepidation]

Necessity is the mother of invention.

[Daryl Z71]

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Whats necessary is for the politicans to get off their dead asses and do something about the price of gas, not do this line of bull$h!.

[Intrepidation]

Whats necessary is for the politicans to get off their dead asses and do something about the price of gas, not do this line of bull$h!.

It's not that simple as I'm sure someone like Oldsmoboi can explain.

[CaddyXLR-V]

Is anyone afraid of what the politicians are going to turn to once cars have zero polution? They will have so much more time to come up with new laws to make us miserable. Like how CA is trying to regulate the temp of peoples houses?

[Daryl Z71]

It's not that simple as I'm sure someone like Oldsmoboi can explain.

Oh yea I believe you.

[CSpec]

This is the most absurd regulation. Just have a carbon tax and let the market decide what a good MPG is, not some leftist bureaucrats.

[Robert Hall]

Not a big deal, IMHO..they haven't raised the average requrement in YEARS.....just build fewer big gas guzzler trucks and SUVs (the demand for which has dropped like a rock over the last year).

[balthazar]

...the cars today are far superior to cars built at ANY TIME in history.

Welll, that would depend on how you weigh & measure that superiority now, wouldn't it ??

[Hudson]

Welll, that would depend on how you weigh & measure that superiority now, wouldn't it ??

Fuel economy, performance, reliability, durability, safety, value for the dollar...not much left to put a 30-40 year old car ahead of a modern car.

I just don't see the CAFE regulations as being detrimental to the automobile. I don't think that CAFE is the way to go...but it's also not the end of great cars.

[balthazar]

>>"Fuel economy, performance, reliability, durability, safety, value for the dollar..."<<

Those would be some ways to evaulate a vehicle, yes, but they are not everyone's top 5-6.

Others may weigh depreciation/appreciation, servicability, engineering, longevity, and modification-ease higher than things like MPG & safety, and there are still diffferent ways of looking even @ 1 criteria, such as 'value for the dollar'.

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Silly silly silly.

When gas prices get back up to big numbers the consumer will simply demand higher fuel mileage vehicles and automaker fuel efficiency will rise in accordance.

[SoCalCTS]

Silly silly silly.

When gas prices get back up to big numbers the consumer will simply demand higher fuel mileage vehicles and automaker fuel efficiency will rise in accordance.

Or we could use less gas now and ease the demand for oil which could keep prices low indefinitely.

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Or we could use less gas now and ease the demand for oil which could keep prices low indefinitely.

Oh really? Yeah I'm sure gas companies are just gonna keep gas prices low because people aren't buying as much. I am also just as sure that the oil producing countries of this world will maintain current oil output increases if everyone is using less oil.

In the meantime lets burden our automakers even more in a time when they do not need this added burden.

Edited April 6, 2009 by Teh Ricer Civic!

[CaddyXLR-V]

Or we could use less gas now and ease the demand for oil which could keep prices low indefinitely.

I will do my part by moving 3 miles away from work. I won't do my part by driving a Yaris or Prius.

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

Let us also not forget that SUVs were designed and built in order to get around CAFE.

So theoretically we may never have moved away from wagons to SUVs if CAFE was not around.

So while we may have had somewhat less than efficient cars running about, they sure as heck woulda gotten better mileage than the SUVs.

Edited April 6, 2009 by Teh Ricer Civic!