Washington – The federal government set gas-mileage goals for the largest sport-utility vehicles for the first time Wednesday and said minivans, pickup trucks and SUVs as a group must increase their fuel efficiency by 11 percent over the next five years.
Big, gas-guzzling SUVs are hit the hardest under the rule. The 3-ton Hummer H2, for instance, which now gets an average of 13.8 miles per gallon, will have to achieve 22 mpg by 2011. The Ford Explorer SUV will have to increase its fuel efficiency from 17.7 mpg to 25.2 mpg, while a Dodge Caravan will need to inch up from 22.7 mpg to 23.5 mpg.
“No SUV gets a pass,” said Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta in announcing the changes. The new standards represent the most ambitious fuel-economy goals for light trucks – SUVs, minivans and pickups – ever developed in the program’s 27-year history, he said. Nevertheless, environmental groups derided Wednesday’s announcement, saying the rules are too modest for an administration that has called on the nation to kick its oil addiction.
Mineta’s announcement comes as gasoline prices are nearing their six-month high, with a gallon of regular averaging $2.50 per gallon, or 35 cents more than it cost a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. At the same time, General Motors Corp. is staking its turnaround in profit this year on a new batch of large SUVs.
Mineta said the new rule is being phased in over the next five years to lessen the impact on the “fragile” U.S. auto industry, hit by declining market share and huge financial losses.
The new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration standards aim to raise the fuel economy of the light-truck category to 24 mpg by 2011 on an industry-wide scale, up from 21.6 mpg on 2006 models. The new standards do not apply to passenger cars. The rule could force automakers to spend $6.7 billion to update light trucks with fuel-saving technology needed to meet the new regulations, Mineta said. He added that the rule will save 10.7 billion gallons of gasoline over the next five years.
The system closes a loophole that excluded the largest and least-efficient SUVs in the industry from the fuel-economy rules. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the industry’s primary lobbying group, said meeting the standards of the new rule will be a “challenge” for automakers. Environmental groups continue to seek tougher standards.
“The biggest single step that the president could take to cut our oil addiction, curb global warming and save consumers money at the gas pump is raising (fuel economy) standards substantially, and that’s not what they’re doing,” said Dan Becker, director of the global warming program at the Sierra Club.
