Ferrari, Maserati and Fiat made up three of the six car
manufacturers to be fined last year by the U.S. National
Highway Traffic Safety Authority (NHTSA) for selling
cars stateside that failed to comply with fuel
efficiency legislation. The six firms paid a total of
just over US$9 million for failing to meet the Corporate
Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations.
First enacted by the U.S. Congress
in 1975, the purpose of CAFE is to reduce energy
consumption by increasing the fuel economy of cars and
light trucks. NHTSA administers the CAFE program, and
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides the
fuel economy data. NHTSA sets fuel economy standards for
cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. while EPA
calculates the average fuel economy for each
manufacturer.
Manufacturers of luxury and
high performance cars factor in potential CAFE fines as
a metric of being able to sell their large capacity
engined products on the U.S. market. The fines, imposed
on 2009 Model Year vehicles were collected in October
and November by the NHTSA.
The biggest of the six fines
went to Jaguar Land Rover which was hit for
US$3,254,900, next up was Mercedes-Benz which was hit
for US$2,935,988, while Porsche was fined US$1,487,145.
Maserati's fine totalled a little less than a million
dollars (US$981,640) while Ferrari's came in at just
under half a million dollars (US$477,202). Fiat was the
final car manufacturer to pay out, it however paid just
US$11,550.
