WASHINGTON (AP) — A deal in Congress to raise fuel efficiency standards would extend for two years an exemption that was granted to Nissan Motor Co. in 2004 to help it comply with the gas-mileage requirements.
The extension is included in an energy bill backed by Nissan, which has sought more flexibility and reforms in new fuel economy standards being considered by Congress. The House is expected to consider the measure this week that would lead to a fleetwide average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, a 40 percent increase over current levels.
Dominique Thormann, Nissan's senior vice president for administration and finance, said Wednesday that the company supports the legislation because it would give the industry flexibility to meet the standards, raise fuel efficiency for many vehicles and not mandate one specific type of technology.
''What's on the table today is a good deal,'' Thormann said at a luncheon with reporters.
In 2005, Nissan received an exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from the ''two-fleet rule,'' which requires automakers to calculate the average fuel economy of their domestic- and foreign-made passenger cars. Each fleet must meet the standard of 27.5 mpg.
Based on the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Nissan Sentra, built in the U.S. and Mexico, would have been moved into the automaker's domestic fleet and made it difficult for the rest of its import fleet to meet the standards.
Under the exemption, NHTSA allowed Nissan to combine its domestic and foreign vehicles and then calculate the fuel economy. The exemption applied to vehicles from the 2006 to 2010 model years.
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG and its allies in Congress opposed the waiver, arguing that it would give Nissan a competitive advantage.
''There is no reason Nissan should be given an exemption just because they cannot meet the same requirements as other auto manufacturers,'' wrote Reps. Dale Kildee, D-Flint, and Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, in a May 2004 letter to NHTSA.
In the energy bill before Congress, the exemption would be phased out for all automakers in the 2013 model year, after which all companies would be treated equally. Thormann said ''it was a bridge to transition from the current system into the new system.''
Nissan has three plants in Tennessee and Mississippi, employing about 15,000 people in the United States. NHTSA had said in 2004 that granting the petition would allow Nissan to continue to purchase parts from North American suppliers and retain jobs.
''What we wanted to do was preserve employment and our asset base in the United States. We didn't want to be faced with a situation where we would have to move production out of the United States,'' Thormann said.
