Summary
New Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has ordered an immediate rollback of U.S. fuel efficiency regulations, targeting stricter standards set by the Biden administration.
Duffy argues that weakening emissions rules will lower car costs and expand consumer choice.
The memo also seeks to revoke California’s right to set its own air quality standards and criticizes EV subsidies.
This move aligns with Trump’s broader push to dismantle climate policies, including a recent ban on federal purchases of zero-emissions vehicles.
Environmental groups are expected to challenge the changes.
I promise no company will change gears on this. It will cost too much money to retool/configure the parts now, to just have to implement it again in (fingers crossed) 4 years. It’s probably cheaper to just keep everything the same.
They also wouldn’t be able to export a single car to a any country with fuel efficiency regulations.
I don’t know, it wouldn’t be that hard to produce an empty catalytic converter. The same part, but without the expensive bits on the inside. That would save a lot of money and increase pollution a whole bunch.
However one big flaw in the plan, number must go up! No company ever passes on savings to the customer, they will just make a crappier cheaper product and sell it for the same price or more even.
Plus manufacturers sell cars in other countries too, who might have stricter regulations and so they’ll end up having to make two of the same vehicle for different markets which is obviously not going to happen.