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Voluntary Cleaner Car Program Should Be Model For Future, Industry Official Says

12 February 1998

Voluntary Cleaner Car Program Should Be Model For Future, Industry Official Says

          Automakers Challenge Four States to Reconsider NLEV Stance

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 -- The voluntary National Low Emission
Vehicle (NLEV) Program, which will reduce vehicle emissions by 50-70 percent
nationwide, should be the model for future efforts to achieve cleaner air, the
head of the trade association for America's Car Companies said today.
    NLEV "is a great example of what we can accomplish working together on a
cooperative, voluntary initiative.  We hope NLEV becomes the model for the
kinds of policies we see in the future," said Andrew H. Card, Jr., President &
CEO of the American Automobile Manufacturers Association (AAMA).
    Card spoke at a White House event to mark the adoption of NLEV by
Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, other automakers and Northeast states.
    NLEV, first proposed by the world's automakers four years ago, will reduce
hydrocarbon emissions by 70 percent and NOX emissions by 50 percent in
vehicles sold nationwide.  NLEV "is a voluntary program that will lower
vehicle emissions to levels significantly below what is currently required --
and it will bring cleaner air to all of the United States faster and at less
cost to consumers than any program on the books," Card said.
    NLEV cars and light trucks will be 99 percent clean compared with vehicles
of 30 years ago, Card said.  NLEV will be especially important to cities like
Atlanta, Phoenix, Houston, Chicago, Wilmington, and others that are facing the
challenge of complying with clean air standards.
    NLEV vehicles will allow them to make progress toward cleaner air and
hopefully avoid taking some of the more difficult steps that might limit the
choices of their citizens or impede their economic growth and development,
Card said.
    Card challenged the four states which have not volunteered for NLEV -- New
York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine -- to reconsider their positions.
    "Americans own more cars and light trucks today than at any time in our
history, these vehicles are the safest ever built, and Americans are driving
them more than ever -- and, in spite of all that, the EPA reported last week
that the air Americans breathe continues to get cleaner every day.  NLEV, and
the increased competition within the industry to get cleaner cars and trucks
into the marketplace, will enable us to continue this kind of progress," Card
said.
    AAMA is the trade association whose members are Chrysler Corporation
, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation
.  Visit AAMA's site on the World Wide Web at http://www.aama.com.

SOURCE  American Automobile Manufacturers Association