DOT Imposes Higher Mileage Standards for SUVs

The Department of Transportation (DOT) today announced increased minimum mileage standards for sport utility vehicles (SUVs), light pickup trucks and minivans.

Under the new rule, mileage targets for these vehicles will increase from 21.6 to 24 miles per gallon, the highest level ever under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program, initiated in 1979. In addition, some light trucks will now have to meet a fuel economy target of 28.4 milers per gallon, a target higher than today’s standard for passenger cars.

DOT estimates the new fuel efficiency rules will save 10.7 billion gallons of fuel over the first year they are in effect. The new standards also set individual miles-per-gallon goals for all passenger trucks sold in the U.S., requiring manufacturers to install fuel saving technology on all passenger trucks.

"The new standards represent the most ambitious fuel economy goals for light trucks ever developed in the program’s twenty-seven year history," said DOT Secretary Norman Mineta in a press release. "And more importantly, they close loopholes that have long plagued the current system."

"We took a good, close look at automakers' plans, examined new technology that is in use or under development – like hybrids and the latest generation of diesel-burning engines – and decided that we could ask more of the manufacturers than we proposed last August," Mineta stated.

Also See: Complete Text of New Mileage Rules (.pdf)
New U.S. Fuel Economy Standards Too Weak to be Effective