GM Reportedly Asks for Eased Fuel Economy Rules

General Motors wants the government to retroactively roll back fuel mileage standards for 1984 and 1985, letting the No. 1 auto maker avoid about $400 million in fines, Automotive News said Tuesday.

The weekly trade publication said GM has petitioned the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration to roll back the corporate average fuel economy standards to 26 miles per gallon for those years. GM also asked the NHTSA to set the 1987 and 1988 standards at 26 mpg, the same as for 1986.

But the NHTSA has never indicated that it would consider a retroactive rollback, the publication said. When the agency rolled back the 1986 standard to 26 mpg from 27.5 mpg, it said it would determine future standards on a yearly basis.

The government is expected to rule shortly on what it will do for 1987 and 1988 and what it may decide for 1984 and 1985, the publication said.

GM has painted various scenarios of how it could meet the standards, but all involve plant shutdowns or severe cutbacks in production.

If the NHTSA would set the 1987 and 1988 levels at 26 mpg, GM said that it could comply without closing plants but that the cost of compliance “could be extremely high and out of all proportion to any energy conservation benefit.”