The Wall Street Journal reports, "German luxury auto makers including BMW AG and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz are close to benefitting from a U.S. concession that will allow them and a few other foreign makers to keep selling cars that emit more greenhouse gases than those made by mass-market rivals such as General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp." The Obama administration plans to enact tougher emissions standards for automakers as part of a package of rules designed "to enforce the administration's mandate that makers boost the average fuel efficiency of their fleets to 35.5 miles mpg by 2016."  However, "the Obama administration has proposed to set less stringent standards for car makers that sell fewer than 400,000 vehicles a year in the U.S."

The exemption would apply to the some major German automakers, including BMW and Daimler (parent company of Mercedes-Benz) as well as smaller Asian brands such as Suzuki and Mitsubishi.  "In effect, the provision would make it easier for Mercedes to keep selling cars like its $147,000, 12-cylinder S600 sedan, rated at 13 miles per gallon, while GM or Toyota would be required to meet tougher mileage standards with smaller, more efficient cars," the Journal reports.

Autoblog notes, "The cars getting this exemption represent some of the most profitable products for the companies that make them. Cars like the Mercedes S600 or BMW M6 which are rated at 13 miles per gallon (18 l/100km), or Porsche Cayenne Turbo S which is rated at 14 mpg."  These cars, industry analysts say, are "halo cars" that "help make these brands aspirational. And they help them sell all the other cars in their lineups."

The exemption lasts only four years, and applies to just one-quarter of the fleet of each company. Still, many find it unfair.  David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research at the University of Michigan, told the Journal "the provision would hand ‘a distinct competitive advantage' to German and other exempted companies that compete with the major U.S. and Japanese brands in the U.S."  John Graham, who helped author fuel-economy regulations under the previous administration, worries that, "Once companies become dependent on these provisions, they have an incentive to hire lobbyists and exert political pressure to extend those same provisions."

Autoblog, meanwhile, comments, "Do you think for a second that the American government would ever let GM, Ford or Chrysler sell vehicles that pump out more greenhouse gases than the law allows? No, never."

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