Auto industry seeks better fuel economy

Push to continue despite Trump call to loosen standards.

DEARBORN, MICH. — Just because President Trump may weaken U.S. fuel economy requirements, don’t expect gas guzzlers like the giant 13 mpg Hummer H1 to make a comeback.

Executives from automakers and suppliers gathered at a conference outside of Detroit on Thursday said looser fuel economy standards might allow for sales of more trucks in areas where they’re popular. But otherwise, the pursuit of fuel-efficiency technologies will proceed unabated.

Trump came to the Detroit area earlier this week to announce that his Environmental Protection Agency will re-examine gas mileage requirements that were affirmed in the Obama administration’s last days. Those regulations require the fleet of new cars and trucks to average 36 mpg in real-world driving by 2025, about 10 mpg over the current standard. Environmentalists warned Trump’s decision could reverse years of reduced tailpipe emissions.

Executives at the Fuel Economy Detroit conference said the billions of dollars already invested

in efficient vehicles makes reversing course impractical. And while the U.S. may relax rules, other countries are toughening them, leaving the industry no choice but to keep researching ways to make gas engines more efficient and develop cheaper and longer-range electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

“We’re all global companies. We have to design our vehicles to be fuel efficient not only in the U.S., but in Europe and Asia,” said John Juriga, director of powertrain at the Hyundai-Kia technical center near Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Automakers lobbied Trump hard to get the government to reopen a “midterm review” of the standards for 2022-2025. They say the EPA under Obama rushed out the review just seven days before Trump took office, reneging on promises to get industry input. The agency also didn’t place enough weight on the pronounced consumer shift to SUVs and trucks, the automakers claim.

The EPA decided the standards are flexible enough to account for the market shift, and that automakers have the technology to meet them.

AP President Donald Trump plans to reexamine federal requirements that regulate the fuel efficiency of new cars and trucks. Executives at the Fuel Economy Detroit conference said money invested in efficient vehicles makes reversing course impractical. And...