Are import vehicles treated the same as domestics when it comes to CAFE?
The rules are different for passenger cars and trucks. There is a statutory “two-fleet rule” for passenger cars. Manufacturers’ domestic and import fleets must separately meet the 27.5 mpg CAFE standard. For passenger cars, a vehicle, irrespective of who makes it, is considered as part of the “domestic fleet” if 75% or more of the cost of the content is either U.S. or Canadian in origin. If not, it is considered an import. Beginning in 1980, light trucks were administratively subjected to a similar two-fleet rule. However, given changes in market conditions (the “captive import” sector of the fleet had become insignificant), NHTSA eliminated the two-fleet rule for light trucks beginning with MY 1996. Therefore, there are no fleet distinctions, and trucks are simply counted and CAFE calculated as one distinct fleet of a given manufacturer.
