Publication Name

Popular Mechanics

Author(s)

Erik Sofge

The automotive industry is bracing for its biggest engineering challenge in decades. The pending changes to federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations call for a stunning 5 percent increase in fuel economy per year, culminating in a fleet average of 54.5 mpg by 2025. Common sense—and a fair amount of industry experts—would indicate that cars are about to get smaller, or at the very least stop getting bigger, and that SUVs will continue their steady decline in popularity.

According to a new paper from the University of Michigan College of Engineering, however, CAFE will likely have the opposite effect: It will lead to an increase in size for most vehicles, and more SUVs and light trucks on the road.

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Read the full article, Study: CAFE Standards Could Mean Bigger Cars, Not Smaller Ones, on the Popular Mechanics website.