Tips to help save you money at the Pump- Fuel Mileage Tips

Gas prices are rising so fast these days. Do you remember when the prices used to be a buck to a gallon? We used to complain about that already. But look what we have today. Now I’m wishing we accepted that buck rate in open arms. Prices are getting worst with each passing day. In some gas stations it’s up to $3 per gallon. Is that even possible?

We’ll never stop fuel prices from rising. So we have to deal with our current situation. For those who can’t afford new hybrids, for those who own old cars, listen up very carefully. I got a couple of tips to help you ease the pain of fuel prices.

These tips come from About.com

Avoid the drive-thru windows. They say you can save serious gas mileage if you opt to park your car and dine in the restaurant. While you’re in line on the drive-thru, you pump the atmosphere with harmful emissions. Plus, you’re always in first gear. This means your consuming tremendous amounts of gas for getting your tummy filled. Park that car!

Stopping your car is the number one gas saver. In fact, some experts advise turning off your engine while you’re in the middle of long stop lights.

Build on fuel-efficient habits. First off, you have to accelerate at a more gradual rate. If you continue stomping on that fuel on your way, there isn’t going to be enough fuel to take you home. Secondly, you should anticipate stop lights. By seeing reds from afar, you can put your car in neutral and half-brake the rest of the way. Third, drive a little more slowly along the highways. Experts advise that shaving 5-10 miles per hour off your acceleration rate will do wonders for mileage. And it doesn’t affect your travel time that much. Lastly, shift gears quickly. Lower rpm’s don’t rev up your engine. This uses less gas.

Another thing, change your air filter regularly. Clean and pure air is the best for combustion. It makes the process more productive and less wasteful. You can also invest in fuel add-ons. But experts say its efficiency effects are well under 10%. But who knows, it might help.

Maintain optimum tire pressure. I usually put in 30-33, but this depends on your tire sizes. If your tires are over inflated or under inflated, this demands more effort from your engine. More effort means more power. More power means more gas consumption.

Those are some tips. I’ll keep you posted if I hear more.

DISCLAIMER: Don’t expect to save money and gas immediately. The effects of these things will be cumulative. You will only see it after months of consistent implementation. Well, it’s the small things that count.

Cheap, high-mpg engines

3 companies push opposed-piston design, but skeptics concerned about emissions and oil use

 

The typical tradeoff for a greener powertrain is higher cost. Electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, Prius-type hybrids -- all come at a price premium.

But imagine an engine that promised a 30 percent increase in fuel economy and cost less. Automakers would race to get that kind of paradigm-buster into their cars, right?

Well, not exactly.

Three companies developing opposed-piston engines say they can produce the magic combination of sharply increased efficiency and lower costs. The trio -- EcoMotors International, Pinnacle Engines and Achates Power Inc. -- are refining a pre-World War II internal combustion scheme in which two pistons operate in a single cylinder.

But automakers remain wary, saying that use of opposed-piston engines on high-volume programs is years away.

For one thing, the EcoMotors and Achates engines are two-strokes, which characteristically have high hydrocarbon emissions and high oil use. The engine companies are trying to convince automakers that they can meet emissions standards. And they are starting to make inroads on the fringes of the industry.

Don Runkle, CEO of EcoMotors, points to a development deal with truckmaker Navistar International for a turbodiesel engine as establishing credibility.

"They obviously think our claims are real, and we are in the process of running test engines for them," he says. "This is not a theory."

But major automakers are a tougher sell. That's because big automakers plan powertrain programs in terms of billions of dollars of investments and a decade or more of lead time, says Dan Kapp, Ford's director of powertrain research and advanced engineering.

"When someone says, 'I've got a game-changing development,' you've got to understand what changing the game means to us in terms of time and investment," Kapp says.

But, he adds, Ford is not dismissing opposed-piston engines as an option.

"We do some deep internal technical vetting of these concepts," Kapp says. "We do take them very seriously."

The three competitors have their own takes on opposed-piston technology. But for all, improved fuel economy is central. Because of the engine design, that's linked to lower cost.

Opposed-piston advocates say that the engines can use many of the same parts, materials and tooling as today's internal combustion engines -- a piston's a piston, in other words. So there's no need to create a new supply chain.

Fewer parts, lower cost

EcoMotors CEO Don Runkle, a former General Motors and Delphi executive, is among the most enthusiastic boosters of opposed-piston technology.   But because two pistons run in a single cylinder, they don't use all the parts that today's engines use. No valvetrain, no cylinder head. That cuts costs. It also reduces heat loss, friction and weight, giving the engines an advantage in power-to-weight ratio. The engine companies' efforts represent a renewal of interest in a technology that the automotive industry previously rejected. Opposed-piston engines were invented in the early 1900s and probably are best known for powering Junkers airplanes in Germany. They also have been used in maritime applications. But automakers in the past have dismissed the technology, particularly because of emissions. "It took someone who didn't know it couldn't be done to figure out how it could be done," says Dave Johnson, CEO of Achates. "The first reaction is almost universally to say, 'That won't work. We tried that, and it won't work.'" Pinnacle CEO Ron Hoge says the company is focusing on small vehicles in Asia as a way to get to market faster. He said the company expects to announce a deal soon to put its engine into a two-wheeler for "a major Asian vehicle manufacturer." Pinnacle plans to power other two-, three- and four-wheelers in Asia. Says Hoge: "We would love to be in Detroit and have the right partnership, to be in Stuttgart and elsewhere in Europe. But we've got to build some credibility first." Other observers see large, fuel-hungry vehicles like semi tractor trailers as the likely initial use. But the engine companies say opposed piston engines can work on anything from a lawnmower to a semi, including passenger cars. The engine companies say that they are willing to license technology or supply engines. Their engines can be made in various sizes and can run on a variety of fuels, they say. "It's an internal combustion engine," Runkle says. "It runs on the fuel you stick in it, and you can make it the size that you need, powerwise. It'll just be half the size of the four-stroke that you would have designed and half the weight." And they're optimistic that they will start getting automaker deals within two or three years. They say their products are ready. "No one ever concludes the r&d phase, but we have done enough research," says Achates' Johnson. "We were founded in 2004. We didn't just wake up yesterday and start working on this."

On the web

To see videos showing the companies' opposed-piston engine technology, go to
• EcoMotors International ecomotors.com
• Achates Power achatespower.com/opposed-piston-engine.php
• Pinnacle Engines pinnacle-engines.com/technology.html

Slow acceptance

Ford's Dan Kapp: "When someone says, ‘I’ve got a game-changing development,’ you’ve got to understand what changing the game means to us in terms of time and investment."   Automakers, on the other hand, see penetration coming slowly, if at all. One automaker powertrain engineering executive who asked not to be named said the technology would have to be completely proved out today to be in cars by 2017. He sees opposed-piston engines as a post-2020 technology. "There's too much risk here to bet on," the executive says. "But there's enough promise to keep looking at it in our r&d space to get it sorted out." Part of the uncertainty, he adds, is whether modifying the engines for emissions would diminish fuel economy: "We haven't seen any data that we could put it into production and still produce the benefits." Tougher U.S. fuel economy standards might seem likely to make automakers snap up new technologies. But Ford's Kapp says the opposite is true: The need, under pressure, to make steady, year-to-year improvements gives Ford less flexibility and leads planners to stick with familiar, proven technology. "We certainly have a technology strategy and development plan in place," he says. "It's how we're going to evolve and keep deploying our EcoBoost engine. I have a line of sight of how we're going to get to that with our existing and limited resources." Others say automakers tend to resist powertrain changes. Gary Rogers, CEO of engineering giant FEV Inc., says that institutional inertia can be a barrier. But, he adds, sheer industry scale means that change takes a long time. For example, Rogers says, the move from carburetors to port fuel injection was slow: "It took about 20 years until we rolled all the cars over to fuel injection." Research analyst Greg Schroeder at the Center for Automotive Research says automakers may farm out design and subsystems but are territorial about powertrains. "In my opinion, the automakers really see themselves as having their core competency in powertrains," Schroeder says. "For someone outside to come in and sell a new powertrain, it's difficult."

Pushing opposed pistons

These companies are developing opposed-piston engines

• EcoMotors International
Allen Park, Mich. (Suburban Detroit)
CEO: Don Runkle, a former GM vice president and former vice chairman of Delphi
Description: With Runkle and John Coletti, former head of Ford's Special Vehicles Team, the company has strong Detroit links. Peter Hofbauer, former Volkswagen diesel engine designer, founded the company and is chief technical officer. Investors include venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Product: An opposed-piston 2-stroke engine with a central camshaft operating 2 opposed cylinders; EcoMotors refers to its engine as "opposed-piston, opposed-cylinder."
Deals: Developing a turbodiesel with truckmaker Navistar International; developing an engine for Generac Power Systems, a maker of electrical generators; developing engines for Zhongding of China for power generation and vehicle applications

• Achates Power
San Diego
CEO: Dave Johnson, former vice president of product operations for military and export markets at Navistar and a veteran of Ford and GM
Description: James Lemke, an entrepreneur with a doctorate in theoretical physics, founded the company in 2004 and is its chief scientist. John Koszewnik, former director of Ford's North American diesel program, is chief technical officer. Several venture capital firms are backing the company.
Product: 2-stroke compression ignition (diesel) engine
Deals: Johnson says Achates is validating and developing engines for several clients under nondisclosure agreements. 

• Pinnacle Engines
San Carlos, Calif. (San Francisco area)
CEO: Ron Hoge, former CEO of Cummins Power Generation
Description: The company's founder and chief technical officer, Monty Cleeves, is a veteran of the semiconductor industry. Several venture capital firms are backing the company.
Product: 4-stroke, spark-ignited, opposed-piston sleeve-valve architecture
Deals: Hoge says a deal for a 2-wheel vehicle in Asia is imminent.

U.S. 54.5 mpg rule may add $2,000 to car prices by 2025

A proposed U.S. rule requiring automakers to double average fuel economy of vehicles to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 would add an average of $2,000 to the price of each passenger vehicle sold, two agencies said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Environmental Protection Agency made the projection in posting the proposal today on NHTSA's Web site. Benefits of $419 billion to $515 billion would offset $157 billion in costs, the highway agency wrote.

The draft detailed a proposal agreed to in July by President Barack Obama's administration and automakers including Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Co. to take effect in 2017.

Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG were among automakers that didn't sign on and weren't part of a ceremony in Washington where Obama touted the rule as part of his plan to reduce the use of imported oil in the United States.

The proposed rule requires annual fuel-economy increases of 5 percent for cars. Light trucks such as pickups and SUVs can raise fuel economy at 3.5 percent for the first five years the rule will be in effect. Then, unless regulators decide differently in a midterm review, trucks also would have to boost fuel economy by 5 percent a year.

"The proposed regulations present aggressive targets, and the administration must consider that technology break-throughs will be required and consumers will need to buy our most energy- efficient technologies in very large numbers to meet the goals," Mitch Bainwol, CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in an e-mailed statement.

NADA objects

The National Automobile Dealers Association objected to today's announcement.

"America's auto dealers support continuous improvement in the fuel economy of the fleet of vehicles that drive on the nation's roads," the association said in a statement. "To this end, we are concerned that adding about $3,000 to the average cost of a car will price millions of Americans out of the market, which could reduce fleet turnover and delay environmental gains."

Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, opened an investigation into how it was written, saying it was rushed and may jeopardize safety by reducing the weight of vehicles on the road.

California, which has the authority to write its own air- quality regulations, plans to issue its own rule, the White House said today in an e-mailed statement.

By 2025, U.S. fuel-economy standards and other fuel- efficiency moves will save 12 billion barrels of oil; reduce oil consumption by 2.2 million barrels a day, about one-fourth of the oil the country imports; and save consumers more than $8,000 a vehicle in fuel costs, the White House said in a statement today.

House letter

Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, and 107 other U.S. House members yesterday sent a letter to Obama supporting the rule.

"We believe that these standards to reduce petroleum use in cars and light trucks represent an opportunity to increase our national and economic security in an unprecedented way by dramatically decreasing our dependence on foreign sources of petroleum," they wrote.

A proposed rule had been due Sept. 30 before regulators said they needed more time. The final rule is scheduled to be published next year.

A separate rule issued in 2009, which takes effect next year, requires automakers to increase average fuel economy to 35.5 mpg by 2016.

PRESS RELEASE: Obama Administration Proposes Historic Fuel Economy Standards to Reduce Dependence on Oil, Save Consumers Money at the Pump

Next phase in national program for light-duty vehicles will save consumers thousands of dollars at the pump while saving billions of barrels of oil, curbing pollution, enabling long-term planning for automakers

WASHINGTON – Building on President Obama's historic national program, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today formally unveiled their joint proposal to set stronger fuel economy and greenhouse gas pollution standards for Model Year 2017-2025 passenger cars and light trucks. Cars, SUVs, minivans, and pickup trucks are currently responsible for nearly 60 percent of U.S. transportation-related petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Today's announcement is the latest in a series of executive actions the Obama Administration is taking to strengthen the economy and move the country forward because we can't wait for Congressional Republicans to act. When combined with other historic steps this administration has taken to increase energy efficiency, this proposal will save Americans over $1.7 trillion at the pump, more than $8,000 per vehicle by 2025. These combined actions also will reduce America's dependence on oil by an estimated 12 billion barrels, and, by 2025, reduce oil consumption by 2.2 million barrels per day – enough to offset almost a quarter of the current level of our foreign oil imports. Taken together, these actions will also slash 6 billion metric tons in greenhouse gas emissions over the life of the programs.

Today's proposed standards alone will slash oil consumption by 4 billion barrels and cut 2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution over the lifetimes of the vehicles sold in those years.

"These unprecedented standards are a remarkable leap forward in improving fuel efficiency, strengthening national security by reducing our dependence on oil, and protecting our climate for generations to come. We expect this program will not only save consumers money, it will ensure automakers have the regulatory certainty they need to make key decisions that create jobs and invest in the future," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "We are pleased that we've been able to work with the auto industry, the states, and leaders in the environmental and labor communities to move toward even tougher standards for the second phase of the President's national program to improve fuel economy and reduce pollution."

"By setting a course for steady improvements in fuel economy over the long term, the Obama administration is ensuring that American car buyers have their choice of the most efficient vehicles ever produced in our country. That will save them money, reduce our nation's oil consumption and cut harmful emissions in the air we breathe," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. "This is an important addition to the landmark clean cars program that President Obama initiated to establish fuel economy standards more than two years ago. The progress we made with the help of the auto industry, the environmental community, consumer groups and others will be expanded upon in the years to come -- benefitting the health, the environment and the economy for the American people."

The proposed program for MY 2017-2025 passenger cars and trucks is expected to require increases in fuel efficiency equivalent to 54.5 mpg if all reductions were made through fuel economy improvements. These improvements would save consumers an average of up to $6,600 in fuel costs over the lifetime of a MY 2025 vehicle for a net lifetime savings of up to $4,400 after factoring in related increases in vehicle cost. Overall, the net benefit to society from this rule would total more than $420 billion over the lifetime of the vehicles sold in MY 2017-2025.

Today's action builds on the success of the first phase of the Obama Administration's national program(2012-2016), which will raise fuel efficiency equivalent to 35.5 mpg by 2016 and result in an average light vehicle tailpipe CO2 level of 250 grams per mile. These standards are already in effect and saving consumers money at the pump now. Combined with 2011 fuel economy standards and the standards in effect for 2012-2016, today's proposal represents the most significant federal action ever taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel economy. Taken together, these actions would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by half and result in model year 2025 light-duty vehicles with nearly double the fuel economy of model year 2010 vehicles.

The national policy on fuel economy standards and greenhouse gas emissions created by DOT and EPA provides regulatory certainty and flexibility that reduces the cost of compliance for auto manufacturers while reducing oil consumption and harmful air pollution. By continuing the national program developed for MY 2012-2016 vehicles, EPA and DOT have designed a proposal that allows manufacturers to keep producing a single, national fleet of passenger cars and light trucks that satisfies all federal and California standards. It also ensures that consumers will continue to enjoy a full range of vehicle choices with performance, utility and safety features that meet their individual needs.

The standards will rely on innovative technologies that are expected to spur economic growth and create high-quality jobs across the country. Major auto manufacturers are already heavily invested in developing advanced technologies that can significantly reduce fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions beyond the existing model year 2012-2016 standards. In addition, a wide range of technologies are currently available for automakers to meet the new standards, including advanced gasoline engines and transmissions, vehicle weight reduction, lower tire rolling resistance, improvements in aerodynamics, diesel engines, more efficient accessories, and improvements in air conditioning systems. The standards should also spur manufacturers to increasingly explore electric technologies such as start/stop, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles. The MY 2017-2025 proposal includes a number of incentive programs to encourage early adoption and introduction of "game changing" advanced technologies, such as hybridization for pickup trucks.

The proposal released today follows President Obama's announcement in July that the Administration and 13 major automakers representing more than 90 percent of all vehicles sold in the U.S. have agreed to build on the first phase of the national vehicle program. EPA and DOT worked closely with a broad range of stakeholders to develop the proposal—including manufacturers, the United Auto Workers, the State of California, and consumer and environmental groups.

There will be an opportunity for the public to comment on the proposal for 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register. In addition, DOT and EPA plan to hold several public hearings around the country to allow further public input. California plans to issue its proposal for model year 2017-2025 vehicle greenhouse gas standards on December 7 and will finalize its standards in January. .

To view NHTSA and EPA's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, visit http://www.nhtsa.gov/fuel-economy.

For more information, visit http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/regulations.htm or http://www.nhtsa.gov/fuel-economy.

Study finds car color choices can influence gas mileage

Everybody knows that wearing white on a hot summer day is cooler than wearing black, but who knew that the same scientific principle can actually increase you car's gas mileage? A study from the Berkeley Lab Environmental Energy Technologies Division in sunny California shows that by simply choosing the right color, can save you over 1.1% on your gas bill.

Because they reflect back more of the sunlight hitting the car. light colors soak up less heat and require less air conditioner power to keep the interior cool. As you might expect, white and silver are the most reflective and coolest colors, but the researchers say there are "dark cool colors" that reflect well in the infrared range where the heat is concentrated.

Most of this seem pretty intuitive, but it's good to see a study that puts actual numbers on the differences. The "dark cool colors" findings are particularly interesting. Perhaps Batman should look into those for the next Batmobile.

New Mitsubishi engine technologies boost fuel efficiency 12%

TOKYO -- Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is rolling out two new engine technologies that promise to boost fuel efficiency in the Outlander Sport and Lancer lineup by as much as 12 percent, the company said Thursday.

The first is a new engine with next-generation variable valve timing that improves combustion stability and reduces piston friction. The second is an improved engine idle-stop system that can be applied to cars with continuously variable transmissions.

The technologies will be introduced this month on the Outlander Sport small crossover, the Lancer sedan and Lancer Sportback -- all made in Japan. The improvements will be offered first for 1.8-liter engines in Japan before heading overseas or spreading to other displacements.

It is unclear when they will reach North America, where Mitsubishi offers only 2.0-liter or 2.4-liter engines in those models. Mitsubishi is studying deployment of the systems there.

The new engine, dubbed the 4J10, replaces the current 4B10 engine. It is a 1.8-liter, 4-cylinder, 16-valve single overhead cam powerplant. The 4B10 has dual cam shafts.

When combined with the new idle-stop technology, the 4J10 delivers a 12 percent improvement in fuel economy over the previous engine, Mitsubishi said in a statement.

Mitsubishi is introducing the new technologies as it races to meet stricter emissions standards. The carmaker aims to improve its fleet’s fuel efficiency 25 percent by 2015, compared with the 2005 global average. That is a midterm benchmark on the path to its 2020 goal of halving emissions.

Turning to electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids is a key Mitsubishi strategy for meeting those targets. But the new engine technologies show the company also is channeling r&d money into developing greener internal combustion engines, which will remain the foundation of its fleet.

Mitsubishi’s new engine combines the company’s two existing valve-timing systems into one technology. Before, one system switched between different valve lifts and valve opening duration in relation to engine speed. The other system varied valve opening timing.

The new system uses one mechanism to control valve lift, opening duration and timing at the same time. That boosts efficiency by reducing pumping loss. And it can also be applied to an SOHC engine, thereby reducing engine weight and size by eliminating parts.

Mitsubishi already employs an engine idle-stop technology in some vehicles using manual transmissions for the European market. But the new system works with CVTs.

The technology saves fuel by turning off the engine when the vehicle comes to a stop and automatically restarting it when the driver steps on the gas.

Toyota says rechargeable Prius will be be priced at $32,760

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest seller of gasoline-electric cars, said today the rechargeable version of its Prius hybrid will cost $32,760, including transportation costs, when it goes on sale early next year.

The car goes as far as 15 miles solely on electricity, after which it runs as a standard 49 mpg Prius, Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice president for U.S. sales, told reporters here today. Toyota dealers will start selling the car in 14 states on the West and East coasts in March, he said.

The plug-in Prius' lithium-ion batteries recharge from a standard wall outlet and don't require installation of costly charging equipment. It will qualify for a $2,500 federal tax credit, Carter said.

"This will be the most affordable plug-in in the market," Carter said.

GM has said its 2012 model Chevrolet Volt will cost $39,145, before a $7,500 federal tax credit. That rechargeable model goes about 35 miles on electricity per charge, before a gasoline engine engages to power the vehicle.

Toyota plans to offer four Prius models, including the Prius v wagon that goes on sale next month and a compact version next year. Prius will outsell Camry, the nation's top-selling car line, to become Toyota's most popular models by the end of the decade, Carter said.

U.S. sales of the rechargeable Prius should be about 15,000 units in its first 12 months on the market, he said. It can average more than 80 mpg, based on company tests, he said.

The Prius v wagon will have a $27,160 starting price, including transportation. It gets an average of 42 mpg, Carter said.

U.S. fuel-economy rules projected to spur at least 10% cut in car weight

The U.S. government's new corporate average fuel economy target has spurred automakers to launch a campaign to slash the weight of their vehicles.

There appears to be a growing consensus that vehicle weight must be reduced 10 to 15 percent to achieve the government's 54.5 mpg fuel economy standard, effective by the 2025 model year.

This month, research firm Ducker Worldwide of suburban Detroit issued a report that forecast vehicle weight reductions of 10 to 12 percent by 2025. Meanwhile, the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., predicted vehicles would be up to 15 percent lighter.

A typical vehicle weighs about 3,625 pounds, which means automakers will seek to eliminate 360 to 540 pounds, if industry estimates are correct.

At least one automaker, Ford Motor Co., has publicly vowed to reduce the weight of new models introduced through 2020 by 250 to 750 pounds per vehicle.

Most likely, automakers will achieve this by relying heavily on lighter materials -- such as aluminum, magnesium, composites and carbon fiber -- along with advanced high-strength steel.

Given the high cost of carbon fiber, automakers generally will make greatest use of aluminum and advanced high-strength steel, said Richard Schultz, a Ducker managing director.

"The real loser will be 'mild' steel, but so what?" Schultz said. "The steel mills see this conversion happening, so they are replacing their equipment."

This conversion to lighter materials will occur step by step, as automakers redesign hundreds of parts.

Most companies prefer an incremental approach rather than clean-sheet experiments such as Jaguar's primarily aluminum XJ sedan or the Audi A8's aluminum spaceframe, said CAR President Jay Baron.

Automakers are "risk averse, because making a mistake is so costly," Baron said.

But some ambitious experiments have been launched. The U.S. Department of Energy has funded a $10 million effort by Chrysler Groupto design a seven-passenger minivan that weighs half as much as a typical people mover.

Chrysler declined to discuss the project, but industry sources say the designers will make use of magnesium, aluminum and composite components.

In 2009, Ford said it would reduce the weight of each new model over the next decade by 250 to 750 pounds, depending on vehicle size.

Its new models are starting to show the results of that strategy. The new Explorer, for example, features an aluminum hood that is 17 pounds lighter than a steel one. And a magnesium seat frame for the Explorer's third row saved 10 pounds.

Another example: the Lincoln MKT crossover has a liftgate made with a magnesium inner panel plus an aluminum outer panel. The magnesium-aluminum liftgate weighs 87.5 pounds, vs. 109.5 pounds for a standard steel one.

The liftgate, developed jointly by Ford and Meridian Lightweight Technologies Inc. of Strathroy, Ontario, won a 2010 Automotive News PACE award.

Consumer resistance
Weight reductions such as these arguably are invisible to the motorist, who may not care whether his hood is aluminum or steel. But other efforts to cut weight may encounter consumer resistance.

For example, Magna International Inc., of Aurora, Ontario, developed a front seat called Futureform, a 39-pound product that weighs 20 percent less than a conventional unit.

Its thin seat back saves weight, and thinner contours allow rear-seat passengers more legroom. To hold costs down, Magna used high-strength steel -- twice as strong as conventional steel -- in the frame rather than pricier materials such as carbon fiber or magnesium.

But Magna doesn't have any contracts yet. Why not? Consumers perceive the seat to be less comfortable, admits Jim Rudberg, a seating engineer for Magna.

Uncomfortable looks
The supplier's own tests conclude that the new seat is just as comfortable. But participants in Magna's customer clinics insisted that the seats didn't look comfortable.

This problem first popped up a few years ago, when Magna developed the fold-down seats for Chrysler's minivans with Stow 'n Go seating. Consumers thought the fold-down seats looked too skinny -- hence uncomfortable -- so Magna had to fatten them up.

What will it cost?

While 10-year cost projections necessarily involve guesswork, industry analysts aren't that far apart. The Ducker report puts the cost of a 10 percent weight reduction at $500 per vehicle.

The CAR study estimates that a 15 percent weight reduction would cost $1,156 per vehicle.

Incremental vs. innovative
Such estimates assume that automakers will gradually switch to new materials rather than make a one-time change to slash weight.

But some major innovations are in the works, too. At the Frankfurt auto show, BMW AG is unveiling the i3 electric car, an innovative vehicle made largely of carbon fiber.

In addition, Audi AG is unveiling a redesigned A2 with an aluminum body and spaceframe.

The Detroit 3 may be willing to experiment, too. Schultz of Ducker Worldwide hints that an American automaker plans to develop an aluminum-body vehicle in the next five to 10 years.

Carbon fiber sports car
Likewise, rumors are circulating that an American automaker may develop a sports car with a carbon fiber monocoque, or unibody.

If successful, these projects could speed the pace of innovation. But automakers are unlikely to adopt exotic materials for mass market models regardless of cost.

If the price of a new part is more than 5 to 10 percent higher than the old part, said Magna's Rudberg: "We won't even bother."

Toyota makes Prius a priority as automaker faces a 'turning point'

Hybrids, fuel economy key to comeback

Two weeks after Japan's March 11 earthquake knocked out more than 650 of Toyota Motor Corp.'s suppliers, halting worldwide production, the automaker had to decide where to focus its resources. It picked the Prius.

"We were rapidly burning through cash," said Atsushi Niimi, head of production. "We decided we had to get things going bit by bit to survive through this, so we prioritized the cars our customers wanted most."

The carmaker started calling suppliers across the country to find parts for the Prius and luxury-brand Lexus hybrids.

By March 28, Toyota's Tsutsumi and Kyushu factories were producing the models again at 30 to 40 percent of capacity, Niimi said.

By choosing the Prius ahead of the Corolla and Camry sedans that enabled Toyota to become the No. 1 automaker by 2008, President Akio Toyoda is staking the future of Japan Inc. on hybrid technology as the solution to the nation's worst disaster since World War II and the company's initial indifference to customer complaints that prompted its biggest recall.

General Motors Co. supplanted Toyota as the world's largest automaker in the first half of this year, as Japan's last remaining company in the world's top 50 by market value lost customers to GM, Ford Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. in the U.S. market, which is recovering from its deepest postwar slump.

"The last several years have been a triple shock for Toyota," said Masatoshi Nishimoto, a Tokyo-based automotive analyst for global consulting company IHS Inc. "It's now at a major turning point."

Lost share

The fallout from the earthquake and the unprecedented recalls devastated Toyota sales, which are down 7.8 percent in 2011 through August in the U.S., while GM, Ford, Hyundai and Chrysler increased shipments by 16, 12, 21 and 21 percent respectively, according to Autodata Corp.

Toyota was outsold in the U.S. by GM, Ford and the Fiat-Chrysler group in August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

While GM's share of the U.S. market in the first eight months increased 1 percentage point to 20 percent and Hyundai's rose a half percentage point to 5.2 percent, Toyota lost 2.5 percentage points to 12.7 percent.

The 74-year-old company that Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mullaly once praised for "the finest production system in the world," plans to regain market share with at least 11 new models over the next two years.

Analysts including IHS's Nishimoto say Toyota's advances in fuel economy will underscore its recovery even as rivals narrow the gap in quality and outsell the Japanese company in emerging markets such as China.

New Prius cars

Toyoda's effort to win back market share, which includes three new versions of the Prius, the world's top-selling hybrid, and electric or dual-power versions of other models, is as much about the company's strategy to regain its lead as it is about the Japanese economy's failure to return to prosperity after two decades of anemic growth.

The revamped lineup begins this week with the release of the 2012 model of the Camry, the best-selling car in the U.S. for 13 of the past 14 years.

Toyota has promised another four releases this year and at least six in 2012.

"Back in the 80s, if someone said Toyota, the first thing that popped in your mind was Corolla," said Jim Lentz, president of Toyota's U.S. sales. "Through the 90s, it was probably Camry. If you ask someone middle of this decade and beyond, it will be Prius."

Toyota is focusing on fuel technology to gain sales in developed markets like North America -- where the company earned about 70 percent of its operating profit last fiscal year -- even as the quake dented its efforts to catch up in expanding markets such as China, which overtook the U.S. in 2009 as the world's biggest car market and where growth is still dominated by all-gasoline powered vehicles.

China sales

The production hiatus after the disaster relegated Toyota to No. 5 in China by sales of passenger vehicles in the first seven months of this year, trailing Volkswagen AG, GM, Nissan and Hyundai, according to an August report on the country by consumer ratings company J. D. Power & Associates.

"Chinese consumers prefer luxury over fuel-efficiency," said John Zeng, a Shanghai-based analyst at J.D. Power. "For the price of a Prius, you can buy an entry-level BMW 5-series."

With limited government subsidies for hybrids, Toyota's strength in China is in mid-size sedans such as the Corolla and Camry, and large SUVs like the Land Cruiser, where demand will continue to grow, he said.

Toyota sold 2,261 Prius cars in China in the last four years, compared with 632,000 Camrys and 809,000 Corollas.

Yen pain

Toyota's comeback will be burdened by Toyoda's commitment to keeping jobs in Japan as the strongest yen against the dollar in six decades and looming power shortages make it harder for the automaker to escape the same fate as Japan's economy: sliding competitiveness and stagnant growth.

Toyota makes more vehicles domestically than rivals Honda Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Corp. combined, making it the most-affected Japanese automaker when the earthquake struck.

Suppliers of 1,260 parts and materials used in Toyota cars were crippled by the magnitude-9 temblor and tsunami, leading officials initially to predict a production loss of 2 million vehicles, or a quarter of the company's global output last year.

A failure to reverse the decline could add Toyota to the list of Japanese corporations that once dominated markets from autos to electronics before losing out to overseas competitors.

Rising competition from companies including Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai eroded the leads of manufacturers like Sony Corp. and Toshiba Inc.

Last survivor

In 1990, when Japan's asset bubble burst, six of the world's 10 biggest companies by market value were Japanese and Toyota was No. 9, according to a ranking by Businessweek.

Toyota now ranks 35th, the sole Japanese survivor in the top 50.

"The world has changed dramatically since Toyota became the top carmaker," said Yuuki Sakurai, Tokyo-based president of Fukoku Capital Management Inc., which manages 600 billion yen ($7.8 billion) in assets.

"Japan became known for producing high-quality products sold cheaply. With the Koreans and Chinese catching up, Japan's position has become ambiguous."

Toyota's troubles came to the fore in 2009 and 2010, when floor mat and gas pedal design flaws led to recalls of millions of vehicles, undermining the company's reputation for quality.

U.S. sales of the Camry dropped 8.1 percent in 2010 and 7 percent in the first eight months of this year. Sales of Hyundai's competing Sonata sedan surged 64 percent last year and 22 percent in the January-August period.

Maximum fine

Toyota was fined a maximum $16.4 million in April 2010 by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after recalling cars in Europe months before doing so in the U.S.

In February, Toyota's Lentz had told a U.S. Congress committee investigating the defects that the company "failed to promptly analyze and respond to information" about the sticking pedals.

Toyota "permanently lost some ground," said Ed Kim, an analyst at AutoPacific Inc. in Tustin, Calif. "Formerly second-tier players like Hyundai now directly challenge them in key product segments."

In June 2009, three months before the recall crisis began, Toyoda took over as president from Katsuaki Watanabe. By February 2010, the grandson of Kiichiro Toyoda, the motor company's founder, was summoned to appear before the U.S. Congress committee.

Toyoda vowed to fix the problem, establishing a global committee to oversee quality, from suppliers through to customers.

Flooded factories

The complexity of that task was revealed when the earthquake hit this year, shifting Japan's northeast coastline by 3.6 meters and triggering the wave that destroyed more than 100,000 buildings and left more than 15,700 people dead.

Factories around the industrial center of Sendai were flooded or destroyed, including a Sony plant and hundreds of small subcontractors for Japan's manufacturers.

It took Toyota three days to set up the first video link between headquarters and the company's newest plant, a factory near the disaster zone that produced Yaris compact cars.

"The first image we saw was of everyone in helmets in darkness, standing very still," production chief Niimi said in an interview in Toyota City, about 600 kilometers (400 miles) from the quake's epicenter.

Toyota's parts system relies on thousands of companies -- suppliers of suppliers of suppliers. So when the quake struck, the company didn't know how badly it was affected.

Employees spent days calling suppliers and searching the Internet to try to find out where all its part-makers were, marking them with push pins on a map, said Niimi, 64.

Head spinning

"My head was spinning," he said.

By contrast, the 1995 Kobe earthquake, which killed more than 6,000 people, damaged 14 Toyota suppliers producing 30 parts.

The lack of components cut Toyota's output by 23 percent in the first half, to 3.38 million units, allowing it to be overtaken by both GM and Volkswagen AG in global sales.

Toyota's stock closed at 2,680 yen on Sept. 9, down 27 percent from the day before the earthquake and a 68 percent drop from the peak in February 2007.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lowered its 12-month target price to 3,600 yen from 4,000 yen on Aug. 18, citing higher incentive spending in the U.S. and possible excess inventories next year.

Of 23 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, 10 recommend Toyota as a "buy," while 13 rate it a "hold."

Toyota's slump recalls the decline in competitive edge of other Japanese brands that once dominated.

In the 1980s, Sony's Walkman music player and Trinitron TV were leaders, capturing the imagination of a young Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, who was given an early Walkman by Sony co-founder Akio Morita.

Jobs's Walkman

"Steve was fascinated by it," said former Apple CEO John Sculley in an interview in December. "The first thing he did with his was take it apart, and he looked at every single part. He didn't want to be Microsoft. He wanted to be Sony."

In the mid 1990s, Sony's PlayStation games console helped it sit atop the video-games industry. Then, as Japan's economy stagnated over two "lost decades" Sony's reputation in consumer innovation waned.

Apple is now the biggest maker of smartphones and has 61 percent of the tablet computer market. Sony begins selling its tablet this month, more than a year after the iPad went on sale.

Last year, South Korea's Samsung Electronics made twice as many TVs as Sony. Others suffered a similar fate.

In the 1990s Toshiba owned almost 100 percent of the market for the flash memory chips it invented. Sharp Corp. pioneered liquid-crystal displays. Samsung overtook both by outspending them each year on more advanced manufacturing plants.

'Long time ago'

"The iPod/iPad set of products is something that a long time ago, one might have expected a Japanese firm to come up with," said Robert Feldman, head of Japan economic research at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co. in Tokyo, who used to work at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the International Monetary Fund.

"Some of Japan's competitors, particularly the Koreans, are becoming very good at many of the things Japan used to be best at. Japan's competitiveness has worsened."

Sony in May posted its widest annual net loss in 16 years, the first time the company has had three straight full-year losses since it listed in 1958.

While Apple's profit more than doubled in the three months ended June, Toyota's fell 99 percent. In the weeks following the earthquake on March 11 -- known as "san ten ichi ichi" or 3/11 in Japanese -- Toyota worked to rebuild its manufacturing network.

While its darkened plant near Sendai, in Miyagi prefecture, suffered little damage, many suppliers had plants destroyed.

Navigation lost

Among the biggest challenges was semiconductor maker Renesas Electronics Corp., which makes chips that run dashboard meters, navigation and audio systems.

Toyota and other customers sent 2,500 workers to help repair Renesas's Naka building, water and electricity systems.

It took 2 1/2 months before the plant resumed operation. Japan's national effort to recover from the quake helped bring factories back on line quicker than expected.

Toyota now estimates a shortfall of only 150,000 units this fiscal year. Even without the damage from the quake, Japanese companies have had to cope with a domestic economy that has grown at an average 1.2 percent annually in the past 21 years.

More than two decades of government spending to revive growth have saddled the country with the world's highest level of public debt.

Japan has had deflation for more than a decade, and has the world's oldest society with a median age of 44, according to the United Nations.

Downward pressure on wages has sapped consumer spending on cars, televisions and appliances.

Growth downgraded

Japan's economy contracted at an annualized 2.1 percent rate in the three months ended June, its third consecutive quarter of decline.

The government downgraded its growth forecast to 0.5 percent in the year started April, from 1.5 percent, to reflect the quake's effect. The stronger yen has sapped exporters' profits.

Following the 2008 global financial crisis, investors treated the Japanese currency as a haven, sending it to a post-World War II high of 75.95 to the dollar on Aug. 19, from almost 95 in May last year.

A 15-yen change in the rate over the past year has "blown off" 300,000 yen, or $3,900, in profit on a $20,000 car, Takahiko Ijichi, Toyota's senior managing officer, said on Aug. 2.

That cut Toyota's fiscal first-quarter operating profit by 50 billion yen, he said.

Japan's former finance minister, Yoshihiko Noda unveiled a $100 billion effort on Aug. 24 to help companies cope with the yen's rise, releasing foreign-exchange reserves to the state-run Japan Bank for International Cooperation to aid exporters, hours after Moody's Investors Service lowered the nation's debt rating for the first time since 2002.

Noda was elected to succeed Naoto Kan as prime minister on Aug. 30.

Idled reactors

Worse still for Japan's manufacturers may be the long-term effect of the earthquake on power supplies.

When the sea surge knocked out cooling systems at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s plant in northern Japan, three reactors went into meltdown, plunging the nation into the world's worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine.

Forty-three of Japan's 54 atomic reactors were offline as of Sept. 5, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.

Before the Fukushima failure, nuclear energy provided 30 percent of Japan's electricity, a number Kan had promised to reduce in a shift to renewable energy.

Industries in parts of Japan were ordered to cut consumption by 15 percent from July 1 to help mitigate shortages. Toyota, Honda and Nissan began closing plants on Thursdays and Fridays and operating during weekends.

LCD-maker Sharp and Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Japan's biggest zinc smelter, said they plan to move production abroad because of concern that nuclear plants will remain closed, extending power shortages.

'Endless obstacles'

"Manufacturers here have faced endless obstacles such as foreign exchange rates, corporate tax and environmental and labor regulations," Sharp Chairman Katsuhiko Machida said at a briefing in Osaka on July 15. "This issue over power supply could be the end of manufacturing in Japan."

Japan's effective corporate tax rate is 41 percent, compared with 25 percent in China and 24 percent in South Korea, according to KPMG LLP's 114-nation survey in 2010.

"We've seen pressure for more and more Japanese manufacturing to move offshore," said Feldman at Morgan Stanley. "Then we have the earthquake. Then we have the power problem. And now we have the yen at 76. Japanese companies have a lot of trouble competing at that level."

While a manufacturing exodus might benefit companies moving production to countries with higher growth, it would further undermine Japan's recovery, he said. "The companies will just shift the jobs somewhere else. This is extremely serious."

Japanese jobs

Even Toyoda's stated aim of preserving Japanese jobs has come under strain. Toyoda has pledged to make small hybrid cars in quake-hit Iwate prefecture and spend 2 billion yen on a new engine factory in Miyagi.

"How much longer should we insist on producing in Japan?" said Chief Financial Officer Satoshi Ozawa, seated next to Toyoda at a press conference in May. "Our efforts may have exceeded the limits of what is possible in dealing with the yen's impact."

Even Toyota's overseas plants like the Camry factory in Georgetown, Kentucky, still rely for some parts, particularly electronics, on Toyota's vast supplier network in Japan.

That plant is crucial because Toyota's recovery in its biggest market will be measured by a rebound in market share, which fell to 15 percent last year from 17 percent in 2009, production manager Niimi said.

Toyoda was at the Kentucky factory on Aug. 23 to drive the first of the new Camrys off the production line in an event relayed to a ceremony at Paramount Studio's "New York City" backlot in Hollywood, with 200 actors, dancers and musicians.

Japanese crown

"In the two short years I have been president of Toyota, my focus has never wavered from one goal: product, product and product," Toyoda, 55, told workers. "This vehicle has become a symbol of Toyota's success over the years. This is an opportunity to show the world again what Toyota is all about."

The Camry -- an Anglicized spelling of "kanmuri," or "crown" in Japanese -- is the first of 20 new and refreshed Toyota, Lexus and Scion models arriving in the U.S. between now and 2013.

"The cadence comes faster than I've seen in 30 years with Toyota," Bob Carter, group vice president of U.S. sales, said in an interview. Under Toyoda "there is a renewed focus on products themselves that we haven't seen in years."

Toyota plans to add the hybrid Prius v wagon, revamped Yaris subcompact, Scion iQ minicar and modified Tacoma pickup this year.

Releases in 2012 include a plug-in version of the Prius and compact Prius c hybrid, new Lexus GS sport sedan, battery-powered RAV4 sport-utility vehicle and electric version of the iQ, as well as the rear-wheel drive Scion FR-S sport coupe, Carter said.

Running overtime

As Toyota's plants run overtime to build the new models, Toyota may reclaim some ground, with its global market share rebounding to 11 percent in 2012, from 9.7 percent this year, and its U.S. share rising to 14 percent, from 13 percent, according to IHS's Automotive division in Englewood, Colorado.

Still, the company will struggle to recapture the lead it enjoyed before the financial crisis, said Tokyo-based IHS analyst Nishimoto.

The automaker told suppliers that the new models are expected to cause global production to rebound in 2012 to 8.9 million units, an all-time high, from 8.04 million vehicles forecast for this year, according to Nobuaki Katoh, president of Denso Corp., Toyota's biggest supplier.

In parallel, Japan's economy will get a boost next fiscal year from reconstruction, with the Bank of Japan forecasting GDP to rise 2.9 percent compared with 0.4 percent this year.

Falling birthrate

That won't be sustained because the falling birthrate means the economy's losing a key driver of growth, according to Yoshimasa Maruyama, a senior economist at Itochu Corp. in Tokyo.

"The country can no longer expect the kind of high-speed growth it once had," said Maruyama. "We can't change that."

The Bank of Japan estimates growth in the long run will be around 0.5 percent. Japan still has examples of leading companies, including Canon Inc., the world's largest camera maker; and Fanuc Corp., which makes controls that run more than half the world's computerized tools.

To rejoin them, Toyota may need to reduce its dependence on production in Japan and sales in the U.S., said Fukoku Capital's Sakurai. "Toyota's future success will depend on just how global a company it can be," he said. "It needs to diversify its operations and risks more."

Etios in India

Toyota has said it plans to get half of its global sales from emerging markets by 2015 with models such as the Etios sedan, its cheapest car, which began selling in India in December.

The company aims to introduce a similar vehicle in China, Brazil and Thailand, said Yoshinori Noritake, chief engineer of the Etios.

"We need to introduce entry-level vehicles there as soon as possible," he said.

Toyota entered the Chinese market after rivals, setting up its first assembly plant in 2000, 16 years after Volkswagen.

Still, Toyota's edge in its biggest market in North America is the Prius and hybrids that allow drivers to cut fuel consumption, said Jesse Toprak at TrueCar.com, an auto pricing and data service in Santa Monica, California.

Regular gasoline retailed in the U.S. for an average $3.655 on Sept. 7, up 97.5 cents from a year earlier, according to the American Automobile Association.

Backbone engine

"Prius is going to be the backbone of our powertrain philosophy going forward," said Toyota's U.S. sales chief Lentz. "The vast majority of vehicle sales we're going to have are going to be hybrids."

The new $25,900 Camry Hybrid's 41 miles per gallon average tops the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid's 37 mpg and Ford Fusion Hybrid's 39 mpg, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.

"Having the biggest number of fuel-efficient vehicles does differentiate Toyota," said Toprak. "The Prius line expansion should generate sales, particularly if fuel prices rise again."

Competition is tougher in quality and technology than it was in the first quarter of 2007, when Toyota ended GM's seven- decade reign as the world's biggest automaker.

Hyundai's new Equus came fourth in this year's U.S. new-car quality survey by Westlake Village, California-based J.D. Power, which has been conducting customer research since 1968.

Only two of Toyota's Luxury brand Lexus models and Porsche Automobil Holding SE's 911 beat the South Korean car.

"For Toyota to get back to where it was in 2007, you'd have to beat Hyundai back to where they had been, beat Nissan and Ford back to where they had been," AutoPacific's Kim said. "I just don't see that happening."

Figuring out your gas mileage

In order to figure out MPG you must 1st fill the tamk and record the mileage then drive and repeat noting to fill to the same capacity level. do this several times to assure a correct estimate. After a month use the total miles and to;at gallons and remember where your decimal point goes.

Make better use of higher-octane fuel, stop-start

As the industry pushes for better fuel economy, it's strange that two known mileage boosters -- higher-octane gasoline and stop-start technology -- aren't being exploited to their full potential.

There are obstacles to getting the full benefit from either, but those obstacles should be surmountable.

-- Octane: Higher octane improves combustion by allowing a higher compression ratio. But powertrain engineers can't squeeze the most compression out of regular gasoline because octane levels at the pump fluctuate. (That's why the pad you push to select a grade of gasoline at the pump hedges by saying "minimum octane rating.")

Greg Johnson, Lincoln brand powertrain manager, puts it this way: "We're limited by what is the mean octane rating of the fuel we're developing for."

Fuel-saving technologies such as turbocharging would be more productive if regular gasoline consistently had octane levels at the high end of its range, according to Stephen Ross, combustion technical leader at Ford Motor Co.

As the industry aims for 54.5 mpg corporate average fuel economy by 2025, the feds need to bring automakers and oil companies together to achieve consistent octane levels.

-- Stop-start: The problem here is regulatory: The EPA test for calculating CAFE doesn't measure stop-start benefits, and that has slowed penetration of stop-start systems. A stop-start system shuts off the engine when a car is stopped and restarts it when the driver releases the brake pedal.

Stop-start boosts fuel economy 8 to 10 percent, according to Mike Omotoso, senior manager for global powertrains at J.D. Power and Associates.

Brett Smith, co-director of the manufacturing, engineering and technology group at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., says the federal government has said it intends to give a credit for stop-start systems in the 2017-25 rules.

That makes sense. After all, automakers get credits for using greener air-conditioning systems. Why not add a few mpg to the CAFE score of a vehicle with stop-start?

Obama sets fuel economy target of 54.5 mpg by 2025

White House: Rule backed by automakers representing 90% of vehicles sold

President Obama, flanked by the chiefs of U.S. and import-brand automakers, today proposed doubling corporate average fuel economy standards to 54.5 mpg by 2025.

The targets, if finalized next July as expected, would continue the pace at which mileage standards were raised by the Obama administration from 2012-16. The current standard requires a corporate average of 35.5 mpg by 2016, up from 27.3 mpg for 2011 models.

The latest targets represent one of the biggest hikes in fuel-efficiency goals since the government created fuel-efficiency standards in the 1970s to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

The Obama plan -- endorsed by leading auto manufacturers, California state regulators, the UAW, environmentalists and consumer advocates -- would require a 5 percent annual improvement in the fuel economy of passenger cars from 2017-25.

Mileage standards for light trucks would increase 3.5 percent a year from 2017-21, with a 5 percent yearly increase tentatively planned for the remainder of the period.

The new goals for light trucks represent a victory for Detroit automakers, which rely on a heavier mix of large pickup and SUV models for sales and profits.

The administration, bowing to the industry's requests, also agreed to a mid-course review of the standards starting in 2018 to consider their impact on manufacturers' costs, technology and sales.

The White House said the proposal was backed by automakers that account for more than 90 percent of all vehicles sold in the United States.

Ford Motor Co.'s Alan Mulally, General Motors' Dan Akerson and Chrysler Group's Sergio Marchionne were joined by UAW President Bob King at the event. Leaders from BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar/Land Rover, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Volvo also attended.


Savings

"This agreement on fuel standards represents the single most important step we've taken as a nation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," Obama said.

"These outstanding companies are committing to do a lot more," he said. "By 2025, the average fuel economy of their vehicles will almost double to 55 mpg. This is an incredible commitment that they've made.... They wouldn't be doing it if they didn't think it was good for business and good for America."

The administration said the requirements will save U.S. households $1.7 trillion in fuel costs and result in an average fuel savings of over $8,000 per vehicle by 2025.

The proposal will cut U.S. oil consumption by 12 billion barrels. By 2025, oil consumption would be reduced by 2.2 million barrels a day - or as much as half of the oil imported daily from OPEC, the White House estimates.

The standards will also curb carbon pollution by cutting more than 6 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas over the life of the program. The White House says that is more than the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the United States last year.

The White House, under pressure from California and environmental groups, originally proposed a fuel economy target of more than 62 mpg by 2025.

The rule "was weakened by auto-industry lobbying," Dan Becker, head of the Washington-based Safe Climate Campaign, told Bloomberg News.

A path forward

In the past, Detroit and other automakers have vigorously opposed tougher fuel economy rules, claiming consumers would not pay higher prices for the technology required to meet higher standards. They also claimed safety would be compromised.

But the 2009 government-led bailout of GM and Chrysler -- as well as the emergence and growing consumer acceptance of hybrids, electric vehicles, and other technology -- left automakers little choice but to back the plan.

"This proposed rule presents a path forward that greatly improves fuel economy while preserving customer choice and future industry growth," GM said in a statement that was largely shared by other automakers.

Ford said it supported the new rule, in principle, because it protected jobs, will provide customers with a full range of affordable vehicle choices, and benefits the environment.

"This agreement provides the regulatory certainty we need to design and build fuel-efficient vehicles during the next 14 years," Mulally said in a statement.

VW dissents

Volkswagen AG said today it would not endorse the proposal because it places an unfair burden on makers of passenger cars, while allowing special flexibility for manufacturers of heavier light trucks. Mercedes-Benz expressed similar concerns.

"The largest trucks carry almost no burden for the 2017-2020 timeframe, and are granted numerous ways to mathematically meet targets in the outlying years without significant real-world gains," VW said in a statement. "The proposal encourages manufacturers and customers to shift toward larger, less efficient vehicles, defeating the goal of reduced greenhouse gas emissions."

VW also opposes the deal because it does not encourage wider use of diesel engines, which represent more than 20 percent of the automaker's growing U.S. sales.

"If one-third of the vehicles on the road today were clean diesel, the US would save 1.4 million barrels of oil a day," VW said in a statement.

White House officials said today the proposal is designed to encourage the introduction of new alternative-fuel technologies and that diesel engines are already established in the market.

Other automakers, while backing the overall deal, also expressed reservations about portions of the plan.

"The proposed fuel economy standards for 2017-2025 are extremely challenging – especially for smaller companies and those that primarily sell passenger cars, such as Mazda – but we are committed to meeting them," Jim O'Sullivan, CEO of Mazda North American Operations, said in a statement.




Photo credit: Whitehouse.gov
California support

The California Air Resources Board's decision to back the proposed standards also played a key role in winning industry support for the deal.

In the past, California has pursued its own fuel economy regulations that were often more stringent than federal standards and largely opposed by automakers.

The Detroit News reported that the talks with automakers, California officials and the White House went past 1 a.m. today. Automakers used the last-minute discussions to seek assurances that California will abide by the results of the mid-term review that will ensure that the 2022-2025 rules can be met, the paper said.

Automakers sought the opportunity to sue if California attempts to enact its own tougher rules in case the federal government opts to lower the requirements in the final years, the News said.

It wasn't immediately clear how the issue was resolved.

Many automakers today praised the Obama administration for crafting a new deal that sets a single national standard for fuel economy improvements.

In a prepared statement, Nissan endorsed the "one national program."

Scott Becker, senior vice president of administration and finance for Nissan Americas, said the deal "supports long-term planning and technology development."

John Mendel, head of sales for American Honda, said the automaker appreciated "the state of California's decision to harmonize its regulations with federal initiatives."

Chrysler said it supported "in principle" the proposed new fuel economy rules.

"We remain committed to the goal of a single, national, and coordinated program that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and enhance our country's energy security," Chrysler said in a statement.

Automakers are expected to meet the new rules by adopting more light-weight materials, wider use of alternative powertrains such as gasoline and diesel-electric hybrids and batteries, and the adoption of other technology.

"There is still a great deal of uncertainty as to how the market will respond and what vehicle technologies consumers will embrace, which is why we are rolling out and testing a range of alternative fuel options," James Lentz, head of Toyota Motor Sales, said in a statement.

Credits and incentives

As part of the rules announced today, the administration said it was considering a number of incentive programs to encourage early adoption and introduction of advanced, 'game-changing' technologies.

They include incentives for electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and fuel cells vehicles; incentives for advanced technology systems for large pickups, such as hybrid powertrains; and credits for technologies that reduce carbon dioxide emissions and fuel economy improvements that are not captured by the standards' test procedures.

The Environmental Protection Agency also plans to propose credits for improvements in air conditioning systems to encourage greater efficiency and use of alternative refrigerants that lower global warming.

The EPA will also weigh new credits for vehicles powered by compressed natural gas, and allow automakers to bank and trade credits, including a one-time, carry-forward of unused credits from the 2010-2016 model years through the 2021 model year, the White House said.