Pugi Mazda dealerships watching new government regulations with interest

And here we go again. The government is stepping into the automotive industry and imposing regulations on automakers. I can't say I'm surprised or that I disagree with the decision; after the mistakes of the past few years across all aspects of the industry, some of the biggest "fail" moments have come from the auto industry. Pugi Mazda drivers know all too well that the effects of the recession leaked heavily into the automotive industry and some manufacturers were affected differently than others. Regardless, it's time for automakers to get serious about efficiency because it represents progression – economic, technological and ecological progression – that we must embrace if we want to move forward as a civilization. Downers Grove Pugi dealers are one of the places where you can see this progression happen.

But back to the government regulations. Beginning with models for the year 2011, fuel economy standards imposed by the government are going to get a big shake up. The original standards were set forth in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) law created in 1975. Pugi Mazda was happy to hear that those standards are getting an extreme bump up. For cars, the previous standard has sat static at a low 27.5 miles per gallon since 1990. For trucks, it's at a very low 23.5 miles per gallon. The new standards will rise to 37.8 miles per gallon and 28.8 miles per gallon respectively by 2016. Downers Grove Pugi dealers aren't very worried about the new standard as Mazda has traditionally embraced a pretty solid fuel economy stance. With solid vehicles like the Mazda 3, the standards should be extremely easy to meet.

The rest of the new CAFE requirements will leverage a wide variety of different criteria, so it would be pretty convoluted to try to get into it here. Regardless, Pugi Mazda understands the new standards, and I expect them to meet those standards without a problem. In fact, most manufacturers shouldn't have a problem meeting the standards. The average is already up among most cars and trucks on the market; recent data collected claims that car fleets average 32.5 CAFE miles per gallon. Trucks weighed in at a solid 24.5 miles per gallon. Downers Grove Mazda drivers would be happy to find out that the brand's average was higher than the general average.

It's great to see that the auto industry is finally getting with the picture and answering consumer demand for smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles. After a meager 2009 and low sales before and after that, the industry was in the throes of something so horrific that it needed some form of mantra to shake things up. But here we are, still in the tail end of the recession, and we desperately needed the efficiency that automakers are beginning to deliver. With very little time before the electric vehicle hits the market, the auto industry is finally showing some ability to build buzz around the new things that they're developing and putting on the market.