CAFE raised to 45 mpg?

[rickaren]

Consumer group wants CAFE raised to 45 mpg by 2020

Posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 2:10 PM EST. (Employee News)

Consumer advocates want the Obama administration to raise average fuel economy standards to 45 mpg by 2020, citing the availability of necessary technology and public concern about gasoline prices, the Automotive News reported.

The administration has proposed raising fuel-efficiency requirements 40 percent, to 35.5 mpg, by 2016 for cars and light trucks combined, the trade paper said. It plans to adopt final rules in April, the Automotive News said.

“We want to make sure we don’t just rest on the 2016 numbers and that we’re prepared today, and get the industry to prepare, to move substantially beyond 2016,” Jack Gillis, a Consumer Federation of America spokesman and author of The Car Book, told reporters on a conference call yesterday, the story said.

Auto industry lobbyists declined to comment on the substance of the consumer association’s proposal while urging the administration to start considering post-2016 standards next year, the paper said. “We hope that once this rule making is finalized, NHTSA and EPA will begin the process of setting standards for future years,” Charles Territo, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a lobbying group for 11 domestic and foreign automakers, told the paper. (Automotive News)