GM Pleased with New Emission Standards

Most of the automotive manufacturers, as well as other companies remotely linked with the automotive industry, were pleased with the new fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards approved yesterday by the US government. Although most chose to express their gratitude in silence, GM was the first to jump and applaud the new standards, despite the fact that it will cause the production of a vehicle to cost some good thousands more than it does today.

"GM welcomes the release today of joint fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for light duty vehicles. While these requirements are very challenging, we feel confident that GM will be able to achieve the mandated fleet fuel economy targets," says GM's press release.

"GM is fully focusing its resources and product plans around great cars and trucks that will deliver high fuel economy and meet American driving needs. Looking ahead, we urge the Administration to continue pursuing a national approach for setting vehicle fuel economy requirements beyond the 2016 model year as well."

According to the new regulations, all automakers are required to improve fleet-wide fuel economy and reduce fleet-wide greenhouse gas emissions by approximately five percent every year, starting with 2012. By 2016, all vehicles should have a fuel economy rating of 35.5 mpg and average vehicle emission level of 250 grams of carbon dioxide per mile.

The measures approved yesterday will reportedly save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the vehicles. This means net savings of $3,000 over the lifetime of the vehicle and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by about 960 million metric tons.