America’s resurrected love affair with pickups and sport-utility vehicles could drive federal officials to relax upcoming fuel economy regulations of 54.5 miles per gallon for a fleet average by 2025.Federal officials and industry experts on Tuesday discussed the 2022-2025 regulations with cautiously optimistic outlooks despite a host of factors, including lower gas prices and consumers not purchasing enough fuel-efficient models to outweigh the growing number of pickups and sport-utility vehicles.
The regulations, when announced by President Barack Obama in 2012, were based on consumer behaviors around the 2008-2010 model years that have changed as the economy has strengthened, gas prices have fallen and automakers have released more-efficient large vehicles.
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