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Automakers Tell Trump Administration To Find Common Ground With California Over Fuel-Economy Targets

President Donald Trump and his administration have set their sights on a new target for deregulation: the auto industry. Specifically, fuel economy and tailpipe emissions.

Major automakers have now joined together to urge the president not to freeze fuel-economy targets for the 2025 model year, Reuters reported on Monday. Although automakers have largely been in favor of relaxing regulations surrounding carbon dioxide emissions, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents all major automakers, is expected to favor increased fuel-economy standards.

The administration is currently studying how to revise the standards, which were put in place under the Obama administration in 2011. Right now, corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards sit at 50 mpg for 2025. Nixing the regulation could stall investments in technology and engineering to reduce greenhouse gases.

“We support standards that increase year over year that also are consistent with marketplace realities,” the automaker alliance plans to tell the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Thus far, it’s been a rough go for the Trump administration, which seeks to overrule California’s long-standing ability to set its own emission and fuel economy regulations. California, along with 16 other states, has sued the administration. An unnamed automaker is expected to pitch the California situation like a trade deal that needs renegotiating. If the U.S. and California can’t find common ground, it could become a lengthy legal battle over state rights.

This Friday, President Trump will meet with numerous automakers to discuss potential fuel-economy revisions. General Motors, Ford, Fiat-Chrysler, Toyota, Volkswagen and more will attend.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

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Comments

  1. Of course they don’t want standards relaxed! It would enable more small manufacturers to compete with the corporate giants.

    We all know that large corporations love strict regulation because it pushes smaller companies out of play.

    Reply
    1. From the amount of down votes you received, its clear many here don’t understand the basics of crony capitism and all around gov corruption.

      Reply
      1. This site gets a lot of Trumpets. If The Donald reinstated 1974 safety regulations these people would cheer to their deaths.

        Reply
  2. The Trump Administration won’t take any major action beyond talking tough with CAFE…

    Trump’s old lawyer Cohen made the huge mistake of making the Stormy Daniels payment in NY through a “shell” company based in CALIFORNIA…The California (or less likely, NY) State Attorney General can pursue Cohen on wire fraud charges if it was determined it was illegal…Trump can pardon Cohen only at the federal level and not the state level…I’m not getting into whether or not Trump did anything wrong but I will say if Trump’s plan was to pardon Cohen on any charges to prevent him from “flipping”, Trump may talk tough but most likely would take very little action on anything anti-Californian right now…On the other hand, if California does charge Cohen, it’s probably “gloves off” and Trump will retaliate against the state and CAFE…If Trump and Cohen didn’t do anything illegal than there’s nothing to worry about…

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  3. The truth is they know there will be more administrations in the future that will not be as willing to keep the lower standards.

    They are all just looking for more time to spread out cost and to give them more development time to be able to make vehicles people really want and can afford let alone not have to charge for 8 hours to get home on a trip.

    They just have been hit with unreasonable standards and just need breathing room.

    Reply
    1. I’ll give you “They are all just looking for more time to spread out cost” but that’s about it since this about status quo over innovation…GM is going to continue building the 2018 Silverado as a 2019 selling it next to the all new generation Silverado…India, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Norway have already announced their plan of banning future gasoline vehicles…California has a bill to ban them as well: “AB 1745, as introduced, Ting. Vehicles: Clean Cars 2040 Act.”…

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      1. Truth is they are tired of getting kicked from both sides by folks who many of whom don’t or haven’t driven them selves for years Setting standards they do not have to pay for.

        Imagine Jerry Brown or Pelosi driving themselves or even having a clue on what it takes to meet the standards they force on all of us.

        To say the standards are reasonable is also why people are dumping 4 cylinder sedans and going larger to CUV and Trucks. It also has help drive the cost up to where many owning a new car is a dream and keeping a used worn out one on the road an impossibly.

        Sorry America is not like the rest of the world. We are not one world with one standard that fits all. We all have different needs and infrastructure so what is good for one is not necessarily good for everyone else. To think this way is delutional.

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        1. Very few are trading in their Camry/Accord for pickup trucks as sedan owners are flocking to PERCEIVED “larger” (ride height, head room and cargo capacity) COMPACT CUVs…If anyone wants sources this is front page google stuff…The top three selling CUVs: CR-V which is based on the compact Civic, Rav4 which is based on the compact Corolla and the Nissan Rouge which is based on the Sentra…Even GM decided to downsize the lengthened Equinox to a compact for MY18…In the past decade, we’ve seen an explosion of MPG increases while the EPA continues to make their formulas more and more restrictive/”real world”…For example the MY07 Prius had 60 city/51 highway, EPA changed their formula so the MY08 Prius had 48 city/45 highway…MPG improvements are possible…

          “Sorry America is not like the rest of the world.” this is what automakers are fighting for; they want one single assembly plant to make one single vehicle that can be sold globally to cut costs…

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  4. Standards aren’t unreasonable and industry has been planning accordingly for years. It would be foolish to change the long term plan for a short – timer who’s entire legacy will soon be reversed to get us back on track with the rest of the non – bizarro world.

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    1. The fact that you believe there is a one size fits all solution for the world’s transportation needs shows you are infact a citizen of Bizarro world.

      These “ban ICE vehicles” intiatives are pipe dreams. They also don’t take into account the lack of an in proved and viable alternative to fossile fuel energy density and ease of transport and manufacture.

      Currently and in the near future there is NO alternative fuel that is cleaner and more efficient than fossile fuel. In fact all of the so-called “clean” energy ideas are dependent on fossile fuel powerplants for electricity, or the other big bad energy source: nuclear power.

      The reality is, if the world was serious about clean, efficient, long term energy, we would be going full steam toward nuclear power. But we are not.

      So for now ALL of these initiatives are little more than political wrangling by idiots in suits who barely understand what going on between their own ears, nevermind the reality of energy production, and Civic management.

      Reply
      1. Nuclear is not a popular option, usually those who want it do not want it in their own backyard and there no US solution to storing Nuclear waste…What the world is doing with cleaner energy is solar, wind and there’s also energy storage which has already been deployed to LA., Hawaii, Australia and Puerto Rico…It all comes down to the batteries which are still improving…Tesla’s next Gen Roadster, Tesla’s Semi and as part of GM’s own “20 EVs by 2023” statement have stated they’ll be using next gen batteries which they hope are cheaper, lighter, denser, faster charging and won’t use cobalt…The USs first 350KW charger was just installed, the Tesla Semi will use a “mega charger” and claims charging speeds ten times faster than the current superchargers…There are very few people who actually drive long distances daily, even if they do they’re not dumping 100+ miles a day on a corvette and they probably bought a Prius…As far as performance, the numbers are staggering, even GM’s own Bolt EV 0-60 is quicker than most other “green” cars, imagine if they added a second or even third EV motor to the Bolt? Finally Lutz did get it right that we’ll be driving self driving pods as soon as a decade from now and if EVs they can drive themselves to chargers…It’s not a bad thing, I’d rather get frisky with my significant other over sitting in gridlock traffic…

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  5. Other than Tesla, whose owners are more like a cult than selective buyers, people do not want electrics. They don’t even want cars anymore, they want larger and larger SUVs. The current standards aren’t attainable, its a scheme for buyers of larger vehicles to pay a hidden tax to subsidize the purchases of small electrics that people have to be paid to purchase. On state, through the CARB loophole, should not set the standards for the entire country.

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    1. PREACH! 90% of the “environmental” argument for “clean energy and transportation” is emotional. It makes next to no logical sense upon serious consideration and scrutiny. All of the current energy sources are getting cleaner and more efficient AND cheaper by the day. EVERY single “alternative” fuel or energy source cost more, is less efficient, or is entirely dependent upon the current system to be viable in anyway. And by viable, I mean it makes sense for a minority or wealthy greenies and environmental hipsters.

      In the real world, change comes when it’s a necessity of survival. To date, every environmentally friendly change that has come down the pipeline was because it simply made sense to do so. As the tech got better and demands became higher, efficiency and environmental cleanliness went up.

      Yes in many ways the GOV helped push things along, but only in the sense that it introduced a Spector of – profit hindering – oversight to industries that would have organically improved just as a by-product of modernization and progress.

      Reply

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