Auto industry's green push is challenged by low gas prices

Detroit - Greater efficiency has been mainstreamed throughout the sector

Beneath the hoods of the cars showing in Detroit this week lie engines that are as powerful as ever, but are smaller and, helped by direct injection, guzzle less gas.
Automakers have subbed out stainless steel for aluminum and other lighter-weight materials, and added more gears to let engines run in "sweet spot" mode more often, so that their cars and trucks can save money on fuel and emit less climate-harming pollutants.
But with gasoline prices now nearly half of what they were just two years ago, the question is, do consumers care?
Or will a surge in sales of higher fuel-consuming cars and trucks, especially sport utility vehicles, erase recent efficiency gains on US roads?
The improvements to gasoline-based internal combustion engines that automakers have made show how greater efficiency has been mainstreamed throughout the industry, and not just on the electric and hybrid cars that steal most of the glory. Under pressure from government regulation, fuel economy in US cars has risen 26 per cent since 2004, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Yet there are signs of flagging progress. Fuel economy for the fleet overall was unchanged at 24.3 miles per gallon in 2014, the last year with full data, according to the EPA report.
Data from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute suggest fuel economy fell in 2015, with a significant drop in the last months of the year. With gasoline prices so low, customers appear less pressured to buy more fuel-efficient cars, not to mention electrics and hybrids.
Of the 17.5 million cars US automakers sold in 2015, less efficient pickup trucks and SUVs dominated the market and grew much faster in sales than other types.
"You hear a lot of noise about demand for hybrids not being so big," Honda executive vice president John Mendel said at a launch Monday of its Ridgeline pickup truck.
"When (gasoline) was four or five bucks a gallon, everybody was clamoring for anything - a hybrid, ... something to take the sting out."
To boot, Bill Fay, group vice-president and general manager at Toyota, said his company has lowered production of some fuel-efficient models, while taking steps to lift output of SUVs and pickups.
Government pressure since the late 2000s to improve fuel consumption has spurred the gains. President Barack Obama has set the goal of cars getting 54.5 miles per gallon (4.36 liters per 100 km) in 2025, compared to about 29 miles per gallon in 2014.
Compliance is determined on gains of individual models and also whether the average efficiency of an automaker's overall fleet is improving enough. Trucks and SUVs are not expected to get the same mileage as sedans and subcompacts, only to improve their mileage each year.