Motor Trend magazine reports that meeting President Obama’s fuel-economy standards for 2025 will cost consumers $6,714 more per car. This is based on a paper published by the Center for Automotive Research last June, when Obama’s standards were still in flux.
There is some debate over this conclusion: a group called the International Council on Clean Transportation thinks that CAR has exaggerated the difficulties (CAR’s response). ICCT notes that the auto industry has a history of crying wolf when the federal government proposes new safety or pollution standards: Henry Ford II, for example, predicted that seatbelt and safety glass standards would “close down” his company.
