Obama moves to curb car emissions

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Obama: 'The cost of driving these vehicles will go down'

US President Barack Obama has announced tough targets for new fuel-efficient vehicles in order to cut pollution and lower dependence on oil imports.

Describing the move as "historic", Mr Obama said the country's first-ever national standards would reduce vehicle emissions by about a third by 2016.

The plan aims to replace overlapping rules on emissions and efficiency set by federal agencies and states.

US carmakers and environmental groups have expressed support for the move.

Under the proposed standards, manufacturers would be required to begin improving fuel efficiency by 5% a year from 2012.

By 2016, they would have to reach an average of 39 miles per US gallon for passenger cars, and 30 miles per gallon for light lorries.

The new targets would increase the average fuel efficiency of all US cars and light lorries to 35.5 miles per gallon, about 10 miles per gallon more than the current standard.

Announcing the plan at the White House, Mr Obama said the status quo was "no longer acceptable" and led to dependence on oil exporting countries and climate change.

The new standards are expected to raise the price of new vehicles by about $1,300 (£839) per vehicle by 2016.

But the president said this would be offset by lower fuel cost within three years.


The US is the biggest car market with more than 250 million cars and light lorries on the road.

The proposed nationwide standard for exhaust emissions is expected to cut the amount of carbon dioxide produced by new passenger vehicles by 34%.