Honda Channels Susan Collins: "Troubled" By CAFE Rollback; GM, Other OEMs Dog That Caught Car
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Within the auto industry, Honda was among the strongest critics. In formal comments – among the flood of 12,620 comments submitted to the government by the Oct. 26 deadline — Honda said the administration’s plan “would make the U.S. an outlier with much of the rest of the world” and undercut global competitiveness. Instead, Honda urged officials to maintain annual fuel-efficiency improvements of 5 percent, staying roughly in line with the improvement envisioned in the existing rules from the Obama era.
Honda’s push was part of a pattern of companies seeking changes that play to their competitive strengths and self-interest. For example, General Motors – which, unlike Honda, sells lots of gas-guzzling pickup trucks – was less forceful in advocating improved fuel economy, though it still rejected the proposed Trump freeze. GM said it would “prefer” standards that “continue improving the fuel economy of gasoline powered vehicles at historic rates,” which it described as being about 1 percent a year since 1980.
At the same time, GM – which boasts that it offered “the first mainstream, long-range [electric vehicle] on the market,” the Chevrolet Bolt EV — also called for a national zero emissions vehicle program to spur sales of electric cars. The company said it was “troubled” that the Trump plan seeks to phase out some measures to promote electric vehicles after the 2021 model year.
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The Association of Global Automakers, for its part, said its own technical modeling found that the Trump administration’s findings “are not consistent with reality.” Even if tougher mileage rules raise prices, the association said, consumers might continue to buy new cars with the latest safety features but try to save money by getting cheaper models with fewer accessories. There is no deadline for the Trump administration to finalize its plan, but it is expected to arrive by around the end of March, which means it could take effect in time for the 2020 model year. The two federal agencies working on the proposal, the EPA and NHTSA, said they were reviewing all comments before writing a final rule but declined to comment further.
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https://www.fairwarning.org/2018/11/automakers-trump-mileage-rollback/