Archive for the ‘CAFE’ Category

We’ve been here before. The government mandates more fuel-efficient vehicles across the board, yet the American public continues to gravitate toward what’s big and powerful.

Barring this era of greater responsibility and restraint, which might pass like a fleeting fancy with the recession, why not pick the bigger or more powerful car, we say?

A lot of things are different this time around, though. Perhaps most remarkably, quite a few executives of automakers and major auto-supplier companies are voicing out in favor of higher fuel taxes—of more rigorous regulation of what types of vehicles can be built and sold—as a way of reducing our...

There's no way around it--carmakers are going to be required to build more efficient cars starting from 2012 onward as part of the new program of fuel economy rules announced by the Obama administration in May. But despite the expected cost of meeting those standards, it's looking like most of the carmakers in the U.S. are in support of the change.

Not that they aren't afraid of the expense--they're already looking for ways to offset some of the cost of compliance in the form of tax credits. But some of the cost will also inevitably be passed on to the consumer. As our Executive Editor Marty Padgetts. pointed out this summer, consumers...

The 2010 Toyota Prius is again the most fuel-efficient performer in the U.S. market, at 50 mpg Combined, while runners-up include the 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid (42 mpg), Honda Insight (41), Ford Fusion Hybrid (39), and Mercury Milan Hybrid (39).

That's the official word from the 2010 EPA Fuel Economy Guide information, which was released this past week.

The published guide, which has been produced annually since 1975 and was admittedly much more important in the days before instantly available fuel-efficiency information from sites like TheCarConnection.com and the federal government's fueleconomy.gov, hosts ratings for every U.S. passenger...