EPA

California regulator scolds carmakers on EV petition

12:25 pm U.S. ET | April 16, 2013
Automakers are undermining the progress they're making in expanding the market for electric cars and other zero-emission vehicles by petitioning against California's mandates, a state regulator said today.... Read More »

 

Loopholes and the mpg game

12:01 am U.S. ET | April 8, 2013
Car companies have a long record of working the system to inflate their fuel economy ratings. The EPA's new program has broad potential for similar maneuvering.... Read More »

 

How new CO2 credits differ from NHTSA's

12:01 am U.S. ET | April 8, 2013
The new EPA credits differ from credits that automakers accumulated under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's long-standing CAFE standards.... Read More »

 

EPA proposes tougher tailpipe, gasoline rules

6:46 pm U.S. ET | March 28, 2013
The EPA proposed a package of rules today that includes cleaner gasoline and stricter limits on pollution from the tailpipes of cars, despite objections from the oil industry. The rules, known as Tier 3, have been supported by car companies because they would bring federal standards into alignment with those of California, where gasoline must have a lower sulfur content to help reduce tailpipe emissions.... Read More »

 

U.S. fuel economy posts biggest gain since 1975

1:19 pm U.S. ET | March 15, 2013
The fuel economy of vehicles sold in the United States last year had the sharpest gains in almost four decades, with Honda Motor, Volkswagen AG and Mazda producing the most efficient fleets. An annual report by the EPA showed new cars and trucks had a 16 percent gain in fuel efficiency in the past five years, to 23.8 miles per gallon.... Read More »

 

Obama nominees: EPA insider, MIT scientist

12:01 am U.S. ET | March 11, 2013
President Obama last week chose his nominees to lead agencies that regulate auto emissions and handle alternative energy programs.... Read More »

 

Obama taps insider as EPA chief; MIT professor to lead Energy Dept.

10:21 am U.S. ET | March 4, 2013
President Barack Obama today announced his nominees to lead a new federal push to tackle climate change, choosing an air quality expert to run the Environmental Protection Agency and a nuclear physicist to head the Department of Energy. Obama selected EPA veteran Gina McCarthy, 57, to replace Lisa Jackson as EPA administrator and MIT scientist Ernest Moniz, 68, to take over for Steven Chu as Energy secretary.... Read More »

 

EPA engineer expects more audits of mileage claims

12:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 18, 2013
A senior EPA engineer says he expects the government to monitor automakers' fuel economy ratings more closely after Hyundai and Kia overstated mileage claims on some nameplates.... Read More »

 

EPA looks to audit more mpg claims

3:54 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 13, 2013
A senior EPA engineer says he expects the government to more closely monitor automakers’ fuel economy ratings after Hyundai and Kia overstated mileage claims on some nameplates. Speaking at a University of Michigan conference today about the government’s 2025 fuel economy standards, Jeff Alson said the agency has always performed “routine audits” of the tests, which automakers conduct themselves.... Read More »

 

GABE NELSON

How the NADA and EPA want to save energy at dealerships

2:17 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
The National Automobile Dealers Association and the EPA may not always see eye to eye, but they are collaborating on some common ground: saving energy at car dealerships.... Read More »

 

China auto industry unfair 'scapegoat' for toxic smog, trade group says

6:49 am U.S. ET | Feb. 7, 2013
China's auto association said the car industry has become a "scapegoat" for the toxic smog that engulfed Beijing in the past month and that coal-fired power plants should bear the main responsibility for the pollution.... Read More »

 

U.S. new car gas mileage at record high, study says

2:01 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 5, 2013
New cars and trucks sold in the United States in January will average 24.5 mpg, a record high, researchers at the University of Michigan said on Tuesday.... Read More »

 

New tailpipe emission regulations mulled by White House

1:59 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 30, 2013
The White House has started weighing a proposal to set stricter limits on tailpipe emissions, which could require automakers to put more emissions controls into their new cars and trucks within a few years.... Read More »

 

Kia Motors earmarks $187 million in costs on false U.S. mileage claims

8:06 am U.S. ET | Jan. 25, 2013
Kia Motors has set aside provisions of about 200 billion Korean won ($187.13 million) to compensate drivers in North America for its overstated fuel-economy claims, Joo Woo-jeong, a director at the automaker, said today.... Read More »

 

Ford says 2013 Fusion Energi gets range of 620 miles

12:22 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 17, 2013
The hybrid wars continue after the Detroit auto show, and Ford has thrown it latest punch: the 2013 Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid.... Read More »

 

2013 AUTOMOTIVE NEWS WORLD CONGRESS

Panel: Industry can meet 54.5 mpg, but at what price?

7:47 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 16, 2013
It's not yet clear how automakers will achieve the federally mandated 54.5 mpg fuel-economy standard in 2025, but the industry and consumers are likely -- though not guaranteed -- to adjust to the requirement. That assessment, from a panel of supplier-company speakers at the Automotive News World Congress on Wednesday, came with some caveats.... Read More »

 

Ford says U.S. may change hybrid fuel-economy test procedures

9:27 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 15, 2013
Ford, facing criticism for the fuel-economy performance of some of its models, said the Environmental Protection Agency may change its procedures for testing the mileage of hybrids.... Read More »

 

2012 fuel economy rises to 23.8 mpg, researchers say

2:34 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 4, 2013
The average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in 2012 rose to 23.8 mpg, University of Michigan researchers said today, up from 22.5 mpg in 2011 and the highest since the researchers began tracking full-year data in 2008.... Read More »

 

CAFE plan unlikely to change despite EPA chief's departure

12:01 am U.S. ET | Dec. 31, 2012
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson's departure is unlikely to affect the strict fuel economy deal she helped broker, says a spokeswoman for auto manufacturers.... Read More »

 

Jackson to step down as Obama's EPA chief

11:37 am U.S. ET | Dec. 27, 2012
Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson, one of the key players in raising federal fuel-efficiency standards to 54.5 mpg by 2025, is stepping down from her post after a tenure of almost four years marked by battles with Republicans who fought her proposed environmental regulations.... Read More »

 

Ford hit with lawsuit over mpg claims for C-Max, Fusion hybrids

3:23 pm U.S. ET | Dec. 26, 2012
Ford faces a federal lawsuit that contends the new C-Max and Fusion hybrids fail to deliver promised fuel economy claims. Ford's 2013 C-Max Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid mid-sized sedan are EPA rated at 47 mpg city/47 highway/47 combined. But the lawsuit seeking class-action status, filed Dec. 7 in California, says Ford's marketing campaign highlighting the vehicles' fuel economy is “false and misleading.”... Read More »

 

FINAL ASSEMBLY

Who fingered Kia, Hyundai? A U.S. rival, Oge says

12:01 am U.S. ET | Dec. 17, 2012
A complaint from a U.S. automaker led the EPA to investigate Hyundai-Kia's misleading mpg numbers, a former agency official tells our Washington reporter. But which automaker dropped the dime?... Read More »

 

Auto, oil execs open Round 2 of sulfur spat

12:01 am U.S. ET | Dec. 17, 2012
By calling for cleaner gasoline to help reduce tailpipe emissions, automakers again have put themselves on a collision course with the oil industry. Automakers say they are willing to follow California rules across the United States. But to meet California standards nationwide, automakers say the sulfur content of gasoline must drop. Refiners balk at the cost and say proponents of the change haven't made their case.... Read More »

 

OPINION

Refiners must do their part for clean air, emission rules

12:01 am U.S. ET | Dec. 17, 2012
Automakers are telling regulators at the EPA it's OK to impose stricter emission standards, which the industry says it is willing to meet if refiners reduce the sulfur in gasoline. But the American Petroleum Institute says refiners are unwilling to make the multimillion-dollar refinery investments needed to produce the cleaner gasoline automakers say they need to get the job done.... Read More »

 

Ford says it’s talking to EPA about hybrid mileage tests

11:52 am U.S. ET | Dec. 14, 2012
Ford is talking to the EPA about how it tests fuel economy performance on new vehicles following reports that the automaker’s hybrids are falling short of mileage promises.... Read More »