Overview
- The proposal would replace the Biden-era path to roughly 50.4 mpg by 2031 with a 34.5 mpg fleetwide average for new light-duty vehicles.
- NHTSA’s analysis projects about $35 billion in automaker compliance savings and roughly $930 lower average new-vehicle prices.
- The same federal analysis forecasts roughly 100 billion more gallons of fuel burned through 2050, costing drivers up to $185 billion.
- Ford and Stellantis chiefs publicly welcomed the move as better matching customer demand and near-term affordability.
- Independent analysts and environmental groups say weaker rules would raise drivers’ lifetime fuel bills, slow EV adoption, and risk ceding ground to China’s dominant EV industry.