Ford has unveiled an agreement with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and three other automakers, which will provide greater regulatory certainty regarding fuel economy standards for the next several years.
The deal provides a framework for a 50-State solution for regulating greenhouse gas emissions through 2026 with increasing year-over-year standards.
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Key elements of the compromise agreement:
- Ensures 50-State compliance solution by allowing Ford to voluntarily meet both Federal and State requirements with a single national fleet, avoiding a patchwork of regulations which would increase programme costs and limit product availability in certain States
- Provides a reasonable change from regulations developed in 2011 by the Obama administration that would (on average) increase fuel economy standards by more than 5% per year. These standards are no longer aligned with market realities and could require dealers to sell certain vehicles in volumes beyond consumer demand
- Revises year over year fuel economy increases to 2.7% and provides a path for achieving an additional 1% increase through flexibilities which promote zero emission technologies
- Avoids litigation over a bifurcated regulatory programme resulting from a lack of an agreement between the Federal government and California over One National Programme
- Promotes regulatory stability and reduces more CO2 than by complying with two separate GHG standards, while protecting the environment and consumer affordability
“We continue to support One National Programme with increasing stringency year over year, while also keeping vehicles affordable for our customers and providing us with regulatory certainty,” said Joe Hinrichs, Ford president, Automotive, Joe Hinrichs.
“As we look to the future, we remain committed to investing more than US$11bn in electrification and support critical investments in new technologies that are valued by our customers.”
