Carmakers Aim to Align U.S., Calif. Fuel Economy Standards

Carmakers in the U.S. hope to negotiate a deal between federal and California agencies that would create a single set of fuel economy targets the applies to all 50 states.

Manufacturers, working through the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers trade group, insist they don’t expect to roll back the 54.5 mpg target set during the Obama administration, Reuters reports. But the group does want to stretch out the timetable to get there.

“We will get to the Obama numbers,” declares AAM CEO Mitch Bainwol. “We will get beyond the Obama numbers. The question is when and how.”

The Obama-era goal was to reach a fleet fuel economy average of 54.5 mpg by 2025—double the level attained in 2011. Carmakers insist the steep year-by-year gains mandated between 2022 and 2025 would be virtually impossible to achieve.

Above all, Bainwol says, the industry seeks a single “rational, predictable, stable” fuel economy policy. That isn’t the scenario today. The Trump administration has agreed to review the original 2022-2025 timetable. But the California Air Resources Board has vowed to maintain the original Obama-era targets, and several other states indicate they intend to follow CARB’s schedule.