Surprisingly, considering that 'The Governator' Schwarzenegger is still in charge, the state of California has applied to the US Congress for permission to create new state laws that will compel car companies to hit stringent new emissions and fuel economy laws before they are allowed to sell cars within the state.
If permission is granted (and would you say no to Ah-nuld?), then other US states such as New York and Virginia are expected to follow suit. The move comes as Congress is mulling over a plan to increase the federally-required CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) barrier from 25mpg across a manufacturer's range to 35mpg.
Needless to say, this has sent shudders of doom through Detroit boardrooms, with both General Motors and newly-independent Chrysler claiming that such moves will force them to pull out of selling cars in the states that apply them (and California is the biggest single state market for cars), and may bankrupt them entirely if the 35mpg CAFE regulation is introduced.
There could be a loophole though; Washington insiders are saying that the CAFE limit will be waived if t a sufficient number of a manufacturer's range is bio-fuel compatible.
As to what that means for European cars? Not a lot on a technical level, as almost every European maker already meets or beats such standards, but let's not forget that Opel, Jaguar, Saab, Land Rover and Volvo are American-owned, and that's leaving aside such obviously-American brands as Ford, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Cadillac. California's moves, just as they did in the early Seventies, could have dramatic implications for all the cars we drive.
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