It was mere weeks ago that part of the new spending bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump eliminated the requirement for automakers to pay fines for not meeting increasingly-stringent Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. This is huge news for Ford and its peers, which have thus far paid out hundreds of millions of dollars for failing to meet those rules. Now, Ford CEO Jim Farley is acknowledging that this move will indeed save the automaker quite a lot of money.
“We support a single durable national emission standard to ensure sound industry planning,” Farley said during Ford’s Q2 earnings call with investors. “Proposed reforms that are on the table now give us greater powertrain optionality and reduce our need to buy CO₂ credits. In fact, our commitments to purchase CO₂ credits have already been reduced by nearly $1.5 billion.”
Automakers now won’t be required to pay fines for missing CAFE standards dating back to the 2022 model year. Last year alone, Stellantis paid $190.7 million in fines for the 2019 and 2020 model years, which came after it shelled out nearly $400 million for penalties from 2016-2019. General Motors was also forced to pay $128.2 million in penalties for 2016 and 2017, all while Tesla received a whopping $2.8 billion across the globe for selling credits to other automakers.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has overseen CAFE for some time now after those standards were originally signed into law way back in 1975 as a way to reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuels amid an oil crisis, and have served to entice automakers to make more efficient vehicles as a result. In recent years, those standards have become increasingly strict, however.
Model year 2025 passenger cars are required to achieve an average of 53.4 miles per gallon, while light-duty trucks must net 38.2 mpg. In the 2027-2031 model years, those targets are set to increase by two percent annually, ultimately reaching 65 mpg for passenger cars and 45.2 mpg for light-duty trucks by 2031. Non-compliance has already cost automakers hundreds of millions in fines, with the Alliance for Automotive Innovation estimating that the stricter 2027-2031 rules could cost those same companies a collective $14 billion.
The perfect vehicle to embody "horsepower."
The original owner's wife wasn't a fan, so it sat for decades.
Closing the week at $11.74 per share.
Still offers the same equipment, though.
At least both drivers seemed aware of the situation and could avoid it.
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President Trump is both a friend to the American worker and corporations. Thank God he is our President.
Common sense prevails!
For all those that wondered why the domestic automakers stopped making sedans --- it is the federal government's fault, "Model year 2025 passenger cars are required to achieve an average of 53.4 miles per gallon." The federal government was mandating ICE out of existence by making impossibly high standards with financial penalties that forced the hands of auto execs to start eliminating passenger cars.