Mini News: EPA To MINI: You Need To Lower the Fuel Economy On Four Models

[William Maley]

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The EPA has been on a bit of a tear with revising fuel economy numbers on a number of vehicles since the whole Hyundai/Kia fuel economy fiasco. Ford had to revised their numbers on a couple of their vehicles, and recently Mercedes-Benz had to do same with the new C-Class. Now MINI is the latest automaker to change their numbers.

Announced this week, MINI will be changing the fuel economy numbers on four different models. This comes as the result of an audit done by the EPA, and joint re-testing done by BMW and the EPA. The models affected include the three-door Cooper and Cooper S models. The old and revised numbers are listed below,

• Cooper w/six-speed manual: Old - 30 City/42 Highway/32 Combined; New - 29 City/40 Highway/33 Combined
  
• Cooper w/six-speed automatic: Old - 29 City/40 Highway/33 Combined; New - 28 City/39 Highway/32 Combined
  
• Cooper S w/six-speed manual: Old - 25 City/38 Highway/29 Combined; New - 24 City/34 Highway/28 Combined
  
• Cooper S w/six-speed automatic: Old - 27 City/38 Highway/31 Combined; New - 26 City/35 Highway/30 Combined
  

Source: EPA

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

Press Release is on Page 2

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EPA Requiring BMW to Correct Fuel Economy Labels for Four Mini Cooper Vehicles

Washington - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is revising estimates for four 2014 BMW Mini Cooper vehicles to ensure consumers are given accurate fuel economy values.

The EPA performed a fuel economy audit on the BMW Mini Cooper and obtained values that differed from those BMW submitted to EPA for certification. With EPA oversight, BMW conducted new emissions and fuel economy testing, and EPA conducted its own testing at its National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As a result of this subsequent testing, EPA is requiring BMW to relabel four of its 2014 Mini Cooper models with lower fuel economy values.

The specific changes to fuel economy stickers are listed in the table below.

2014 BMW Mini Cooper Fuel Economy Value Updates

Old Label Values

New Label Values

Model

Transmission

Combined (mpg)

City

(mpg)

Highway (mpg)

Combined (mpg)

City (mpg)

Highway (mpg)

Cooper 3-door

MT

34

30

42

33

29

40

Cooper 3-door

Semi-Auto

33

29

40

32

28

39

Cooper S 3-door

MT

29

25

38

28

24

34

Cooper S 3-door

Semi-Auto

31

27

38

30

26

35

"Fuel economy values matter to consumers and automakers," said Christopher Grundler, director of EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality. "To provide consumers with the most accurate, reliable and repeatable fuel economy values, we are continuing to strengthen our oversight to ensure fair competition among automakers."

EPA's National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory conducts fuel economy testing on vehicles each year to ensure that their performance matches the mileage and emissions data automakers submit to EPA. These audits are part of the oversight program that helps ensure all carmakers are following the same procedures for calculating mileage estimates. The oversight program also helps the EPA verify that vehicles on the road meet national tailpipe emission standards to protect public health and the environment.

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[G. David Felt]

This will have a larger than expected impact as I expect more and more auto companies to be restating fuel economy numbers and we will see them all drop and this will force the auto companies to work harder to meet the fuel economy levels.

 

Course If they would just tax on miles driven rather than fuel and fuel economy this would work just fine.