President Barack Obama says the current model for the U.S. auto industry is unsustainable and the Big Three manufacturers will have to change their ways.
Answering questions at an online town hall, Obama said the auto industry must be preserved, not only symbolically but for the satellite industries such as suppliers. However, he said his job is to protect U.S. taxpayers and he wouldn’t spend federal dollars on “a model that doesn’t work.”
Cars and light trucks will be required to meet a U.S. fuel-economy average of 27.3 miles per gallon for 2011 models, an increase of 2 mpg, an Obama administration official said.
The standard for cars will average 30.2 mpg, up from 27.5, and 24.1 for light trucks, up from 23.1 mpg for 2009 models, said the official, who declined to be identified because the targets haven’t been announced publicly.
The standard, being put in place as General Motors and Chrysler face possible bankruptcy, isn’t as aggressive as the 27.8 mpg target that President George W. Bush proposed in April. Bush decided to delay the rule before he left office, and it was never implemented.
Obama said Thursday that he’ll help Detroit’s automakers only if the companies and their stakeholders make “pretty drastic changes.”
“We will provide them some help. I know that it is not popular to provide help to autoworkers — or to auto companies,” he said. “But my job is to measure the costs of allowing these auto companies just to collapse versus us figuring out — can they come up with a viable plan?”
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