| White House Proposes Stricter Fuel Economy Norms |
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Joanne A. D’Souza
Washington (24x7Updates) -- The Bush administration announced new fuel economy rules Tuesday that require improved mileage for the sports/utility vehicles and other light trucks that have captured a majority of U.S. auto sales.
The new rule will raise automakers’ fuel efficiency targets, which will now be determined by a vehicle’s "footprint" size instead of its weight. The very biggest SUVs, like Hummers and Ford Excursions, will be exempt from the new standards.
Under current rules, all light trucks produced by an automaker have to average at least 21 miles per gallon for 2005 models, according to a spokesman for NHTSA, and 22.2 mpg for 2007 models. What makes the proposal most significant is that it creates a new system for automakers to use in calculating the fuel efficiency of their products. Rather than figuring a corporate average fuel economy -- CAFE -- level for an entire fleet, the new rule would create six different categories, each with its own target.
Advocates for the environment said the administration’s prediction on fuel savings was suspect, because auto manufacturers would change the type of vehicles they produced, making them larger to get into easier mileage categories. They also claimed that the standards were far lower than they could have been given current technology.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will take comments on the proposed rule for 90 days, and intends to issue a final rule by next April, it said.
The newspapers reported that the new rules seem likely to help General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. The fleet-wide average for light trucks is a disadvantage for auto manufacturers that have a large portion of their light truck sales among the biggest pickup trucks and SUVs, a category that Ford and GM dominate.
Repercussions of a rule like this would definitely cause ripples in the automotive sector with a rise in manufacture of the ever growing population of large SUV’s.
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| Northwest Airlines workers strike - Aug 20, 2005 22:23 IST |
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Mechanics, cleaners and janitors at US carrier Northwest Airlines walked off the job today after labour talks failed to produce a deal to help cut costs and avert possible bankruptcy.
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| Baidu.com, the Wall Street BlockBuster - Aug 7, 2005 5:41 IST |
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New York(24x7Updates) -- Google’s poor cousin from China has made a spectacular market entry in US with its shares closing at 4 times its intial price of $27.
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| Delphi digs deep into credit for operations - Aug 6, 2005 17:47 IST |
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Chicago(24x7Updates)-- Delphi Corp., the biggest U.S. supplier of auto parts, said it borrowed $1.5 billion from banks, a day after Chief Executive Officer Steve Miller suggested the company faces bankruptcy unless it cuts costs.
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| HSBC Buys Metris for $1.6 Billion - Aug 5, 2005 17:24 IST |
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London(24x7Updates) -- British banking giant HSBC Holdings on Thursday said it will snap up Minnetonka-based Metris Cos., one of the last independent credit card issuers, for $1.6 billion in cash.
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| Adidas to Buy Reebok for $3.8 bn - Aug 3, 2005 18:45 IST |
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Frankfurt(24x7Updates)-- Adidas-Salomon, the world’s second-largest sporting-goods maker, has agreed to buy Reebok International Ltd for about $ 3.8 billion(3.1 billion Euros) in an attempt to catch up with with Nike, the world leader in sportswear and equipment.
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| Ask Jeeves Launches Advertising Network - Aug 1, 2005 16:56 IST |
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Ask Jeeves Inc. is to unveil a automated paid listing service today called Ask Jeeves Sponsored Listings that allows advertisers to place bids for advertisements on its network.
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