[jyl]

It appears that the government is considering changes to the CAFE fuel efficiency standards that would reduce the pressure on GM and Ford to improve the mileage of their trucks and SUVs.

I don't think this is the right direction . . .

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112260151147599563,00.html?mod=home_whats_new s_us

Excerpt:

"By LAURA MECKLER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
July 29, 2005; Page A2

WASHINGTON -- A major overhaul of fuel-efficiency standards for light trucks that is now being considered by the Bush administration seems likely to help beleaguered Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. and hurt Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp.

Current rules punish companies that rely heavily on sales of the biggest pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles -- a category that is dominated by GM, with its Yukon and Tahoe SUVs, and Ford, which sells more than 900,000 of its F-Series pickups a year. These companies are forced to sell smaller trucks at smaller profit margins, or even a loss, to make sure they sell enough of the more fuel-efficient vehicles to bring their fleetwide averages up to the government's 21-mile-per-gallon requirement.

The government now calculates auto makers' performance by averaging their entire fleets' gas mileage. A complex rewriting of the rules, expected for release by Labor Day, seems likely to change that.

Under the proposed new regime, light trucks -- a category that includes pickups, SUVs and minivans -- would be judged against other trucks of similar size, though not by weight, according to auto industry and environmental lobbyists. Smaller vehicles would be required to meet higher mileage targets than larger ones. This shift would help domestic auto makers, while causing problems for Toyota, which has had an easier time meeting the current standards."