Although the Bush administration signed into law new CAFE regulations that will see fleet-wide fuel economy averages increase to 35 mpg by 2020, the last President failed to set regulations for the first round of requirements. However, the Obama administration officially made a ruling on the subject late last night, coming in just days before the 2011 model year deadline.
According to The Detroit News, the latest regulation will require cars and light trucks to meet a 27.3 mpg average by the 2011 model year. That’s an increase of 8 percent over 2010’s 25.3 mpg requirement.
Broken down, the newly-minted 2011 model year CAFE regulations will require passenger cars to average 30.2 mpg and trucks to average 24.1 mpg.
By law, the Obama administration had to issue a ruling on the 2011 model year CAFE requirements by April 1st. Under NHTSA rules, automakers must be given an 18 month lead time on changes to future vehicle requirements.
Although the 2011 requirements are now set, President Obama must still make a decision on the 2012-2015 model year requirements. However, a ruling on that subject is not expected for about another year.
