The mid-term evaluation of fuel economy standards is in full swing, and with the close of the public comment period on the Technical Assessment Report from the federal agencies, we now have a better understanding of the types of arguments being used by automakers as they try to weaken the federal passenger vehicle efficiency standards—to no one’s surprise, it relies on a lot of half-baked nonsense and fearmongering.
One statistic repeated over and over by automakers and their trade associations comes from a report that just happened to be released the same day industry was testifying at a House hearing on the standards—the claim is that up to 1.1 million jobs could be lost due to the 2025 standards, citing a report by the Center for Automotive Research (CAR).
This statistic is not just notable for its magnitude—it also runs counter to analysis released earlier this year which notes the positive impact these standards would have on automaker profitability in a variety of future fuel price scenarios. Of course, it’s not the first time the Center for Automotive Research has used bad analysis to fearmonger around lost jobs…