In the future, consumers may be paying a little extra for fuel efficiency as automakers try to meet new federal fuel economy standards in coming years, Marketing Daily reports.
This month, the National Highway Transportation Safety Authority is expected to release new proposals requiring automakers to achieve 35 corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) by 2020. Current standards are 23.5 for trucks and 27.5 for cars.
John German, manager of environmental policy analysis at Honda, told Marketing Daily that the company supports the new CAFE rules. However, he says the mandate is aggressive. It calls for a 4.5 percent average annual increase in fuel economy between 2011 and 2015, which is “three times the historical rate of the introduction of new technology and two times what Japan and Europe have done.”
Either way, the cost for technologies to reduce GHG emissions and fuel will be passed down to consumers. According to German, “there will be a 56-month period of ownership before fuel savings realizes the full payback of costs of the new technology.”
New research by Clean Green Cars revealed that new car's CO2 emissions are down 5 percent from last year.
