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- <text id=89TT1387>
- <title>
- May 29, 1989: Business Notes:Automobiles
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- May 29, 1989 China In Turmoil
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 75
- Business Notes
- AUTOMOBILES
- Muzzling the Gas Guzzler
- </hdr><body>
- <p> Those big cars -- and their thirsty engines -- that
- Americans have once again come to love blew a tire last week,
- when the Bush Administration approved tougher fuel-efficiency
- standards for all automobiles sold in the U.S. As of 1990, all
- cars produced by each auto company must average 27.5 m.p.g. of
- gas or the manufacturer will face stiff penalties. The Reagan
- Administration had relaxed the standard -- first established in
- the oil-shocked '70s -- to 26.5 m.p.g. for model-year 1989. But
- Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner cited "economic
- security" in resisting Detroit's plea to maintain 26.5 m.p.g.
- for a longer period. "We are now importing a higher percentage
- of petroleum than we were in 1975," said Skinner. "We may very
- shortly be dependent on foreign sources for more than half of
- our oil."
- </p>
- <p> General Motors, which expected its fleet to average 27
- m.p.g. next year, criticized the decision, declaring that it
- will cost jobs to go that extra half-mile. Chrysler and Ford
- said they were prepared to meet the new requirements.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
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