DaimlerChrysler gets record $30M CAFE fine
Filed under: MPG, Legislation and Policy
When Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations were instituted by the US Congress in the mid-seventies, the law included fines for automakers who failed to meet the standard. The first company to fall prey to CAFE fines was Jaguar in 1983 when they paid $57,970 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). NHTSA is the agency that actually sets the rules for CAFE, calculates the averages and administers the fines.
Over the years, carmakers have been fined a total of $735,422,635.50 for selling cars and trucks that use too much fuel. NHTSA has just released the latest list of fines including those for the 2006 model year. DaimlerChrysler got a record fine of $30,257,920 for that model year almost double the $16,895,472 they paid the previous year. The previous record went to BMW in 2001 when they paid almost $28 million. As the new standards increase over the next decade, companies that produce a lot of high performance cars like Mercedes and BMW will likely be paying a lot more in fines unless they start selling a lot of hybrids and diesels.
[Source: NHTSA]
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