by Shawn SkinnerÂ
With gas topping four dollars a gallon in many parts of the country, there has been little obvious reduction in full size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) on US highways. Could that change within the next decade? Could rising gas prices or more stringent government fuel economy regulations cause automotive companies to abandon full-size truck manufacturing for consumer sales? One thing is for certain: change is on the horizon.
On April 1, 2010, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released their rules for fuel economy standards for the years 2012 to 2016. According to Car and Driver, “Under the new rules, combined fleet fuel economy will have to increase to 29.7 mpg for the 2012 model year, ramping up to 34.1 mpg by 2016.… Read the rest
