Lawmakers boasted of more efficient vehicles, less dependence on foreign oil, cleaner fuel sources and punishment for oil companies that dared to engage in price gouging.
And by setting a single standard in place, rather than a tangle of overlapping and uncertain rules, auto companies will have the clear incentive to develop more efficient vehicles.
Ford, GM and Chrysler were caught flat-footed when US consumers began switching en masse to smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles.
It's doing this by hastening its move from trucks and SUVs to more fuel efficient vehicles, along with other cost cuts.
Five years ago, the auto industry was still dominated by light trucks, such as pickups, SUVs and minivans, even though there was plenty of talk about the need for more fuel efficient vehicles.
And that's why we've got to pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes investing in more biofuels and more fuel-efficient vehicles, and more solar power and more wind power, and more people going back to work building cars and homes and businesses that are more energy efficient than the ones that we've got right now.
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"What I think we really need to focus on are more fuel-efficient vehicles, better city planning for the number and types of vehicles on the road, and more public transportation options, " Curtis Lewis said.
In the first poll of their views, carried out in May this year, 76% of these sportsmen said they had personally noticed climate change, and 78% said that the right way to address America's energy needs was to conserve more, develop fuel-efficient vehicles and use more renewables.
Politicians are loath to raise gasoline taxes, which would force people to purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles.
At the time, GM desperately needed smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles and they became its sole focus.
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China has also raised taxes on gasoline and diesel and reduced the sales tax on more fuel-efficient vehicles.
They do predict that the sales mix will lean toward more fuel-efficient vehicles.
As automakers hire the people that will design and build more fuel-efficient vehicles, their efforts will spur both employment and sales.
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Under the previously adopted 2012-2016 standards, they are already offering buyers a wider selection of more fuel-efficient vehicles than ever before.
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Recently high gas prices have at least put Detroit on notice that it needs to come up with more fuel-efficient vehicles.
In order to receive those funds, the companies have to be economically "viable" and the money has to be used to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Executives at GM and Chrysler touted demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles in the face of climbing gasoline prices as a key driver of March sales alongside an improving U.S. economy.
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Under the terms of the expected agreement, Fiat will not pay anything for its Chrysler stake, and instead the US company will gain access to Fiat's technology and expertise in making smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Mr. Gates scrapped much of the Army's multibillion dollar Future Combat Systems, after it became clear that its lighter, faster, more fuel-efficient vehicles would not do much to protect soldiers from the threat of improvised explosive devices.
In 2008, while automakers plodded along with the same old gas-guzzling models as the price at the pump hit record highs, American consumers scrambled for more fuel-efficient vehicles and left the gas-guzzlers to collect dust on the showroom floor.
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The fierce battle for car buyers in Brazil could influence other markets before long, including mature ones like the U.S. Sluggish economies and rising fuel prices are prompting more consumers around the globe to seek smaller, less expensive and more fuel-efficient vehicles.
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Instead of simply limiting foreign imports or adding federal taxes to fuel costs to give consumers an incentive to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles, the government instituted byzantine regulations that required American manufacturers to build (or at least market) fuel-efficient cars just so they could continue selling the cars and trucks they were already known for.
In just over two years, we have procured vehicles that were on average nearly 25 percent more fuel-efficient than the vehicles they replaced.
Fuel efficiency is mainly driven by changing behaviour because of high oil prices, and by new technology that makes vehicles more efficient.
Part of that growth, to be sure, was due to overall growth in demand, but a big part of it I suspect is due to the switch from less fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly unconventional vehicles, to more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly passenger cars, trucks and buses.
While he's at it, he wants Ford to become more efficient by selling the same vehicles worldwide, instead of different models for different regions.
As part of its stimulus package, China provided incentives for those in its rural economy to trade in their less fuel-efficient vehicles for more conventional means of transportation.
Growth would come from developing products that make vehicles cleaner, more efficient and better-performing.
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The reason, according to Global Insight's Lindland: People can switch from midsized, truck-based SUVs like the Ford Explorer, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Toyota 4Runner and Nissan Pathfinder into lighter, more fuel efficient so-called crossover vehicles like the Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander and forthcoming GMC Acadia without losing much utility.
The reason, according to Global Insight's Lindland: People can switch from midsized, truck-based SUVs like the Ford Explorer, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Toyota 4Runner and Nissan Pathfinder into lighter, more fuel efficient so-called crossover vehicles like the Honda (nyse: HMC - news - people ) Pilot, Toyota Highlander and forthcoming GMC Acadia without losing much utility.
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