WASHINGTON – The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, whose membership consists of 12 automakers, proposed changes to the Obama administration's proposed 2017-2025 CAFE and greenhouse gas (GHG) standards, specifically how they are required to account for emissions reductions.

Their key concerns relate to how laboratory tests to measure GHG emissions differ from real-world driving. The automakers contend that technologies that help reduce emissions during on-road driving (improvements to reduce A/C refrigerant loss, for example) are not taken into account.

“The Alliance believes that the various credit provisions proposed by EPA and NHTSA are essential elements of the rulemaking package,” the organization said in a statement. “And, recognition of the real-world improvements provided by these innovations should begin with the very first vehicle employing approved technologies, and there should be no ceiling on the deployment of these effective technologies.”

In addition, the Alliance stated it doesn’t believe the automakers should have to account for utilities failing to reduce emissions when calculating the effective emissions of electric vehicles. The current proposed standards leave open the potential for the automakers being required to make up for that lack of reduction.

“In other words, automakers may now be called on to not only make an unprecedented investment into vehicles with lower GHG emissions, but to also fill the void between this rulemaking and a comprehensive national energy policy,” the Alliance stated.

The Alliance said the government should develop appropriate regulations for utility manufacturers.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is a trade association of 12 car and light truck manufacturers, including BMW Group, Chrysler, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz USA, Mitsubishi Motors, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo.