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EPA says fuel economy test for hybrids is accurate

The EPA says it stands behind its fuel economy test for hybrid vehicles following controversy about the testing process after Ford C-Max Hybrid customers and automotive journalists alike struggled to achieve 47 miles per gallon, the advertised mpg number, Automotive News reports. Ford responded to the issue almost two weeks ago by claiming that a 1970s-era EPA general label rule was responsible for the inaccurate mileage numbers, rerating the C-Max Hybrid's mpg numbers and offering customers rebates. Ford later said it didn't overstate the C-Max Hybrid's fuel economy and that it was surprised by the low numbers.
Ford technically didn't do anything wrong because it was following the general label rule, but agency regulator Christopher Grundler says the automaker was exploiting a loophole when it came up with the hybrid C-Max numbers, and that the testing process remains accurate. The general label rule allows vehicles that use the same engine and transmission and are in the same weight class to share fuel economy numbers, but it doesn't take into account other factors such as aerodynamic efficiency, which affects hybrids more drastically than non-hybrid vehicles. Ford originally used the Fusion Hybrid economy figures for the C-Max Hybrid and claimed the engineers didn't realize that its aerodynamic efficiency would affect fuel economy as much as it did.

Lincoln MKC will be renamed the Corsair in 2021, probably

Lincoln will be renaming its MKC crossover, calling it the Corsair instead. Automotive News is reporting that the recently trademarked, yet storied Ford model name Corsair will be affixed on the 2021 model year crossover. The report says Ford has already told its U.S. dealers about the name at an Orlando meeting last month. Ford has a long history with the Corsair nameplate in the States and abroad: Most recently, it has been in use in Australia in the early 1990s, in the UK in the 1960s, and before that Ford offered an Edsel Corsair in the late 1950s. Even if an Edsel connection might not be the best possible thing for a Ford product, let alone a Lincoln, it might serve the crossover well as Ford moves to ditch the MK naming convention it's used for Lincoln for the past decade. Still, the manufacturer is said to have cautioned dealers it might opt out of using the Corsair name before production time. At the same meeting, Ford reportedly showed the next-generation Escape, the Explorer, a battery electric crossover dubbed the Mach 1, a yet-unnamed small SUV (which might be the Bronco) , and a new Lincoln Continental complete with suicide doors. The MKC will still receive a refresh for next year, retaining its letters-name for a couple of years before the bigger redesign for 2021. Currently, the MKC is the strongest-selling Lincoln product in China, and it brings in numerous new Lincoln customers there. In the U.S. it's outsold by the MKX crossover and is neck-and-neck with the MKZ sedan.

Expert: 54.5 mpg CAFE standard can be reached without many plug-ins

Johnson Controls executive Brian Kesseler isn't likely to get any holiday presents this year from Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn or Tesla Motors head Elon Musk, but lots of other folks might be happy with what he has to say about automakers' efforts to reach stricter fleetwide fuel-economy standards. Speaking at the Automotive News World Congress, Kesseler said automakers wouldn't need to sell an extensive number of plug-in vehicles in order to meet the 54.5 mile per gallon Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard the US government set in 2012 for 2025 model-year vehicles. In fact, he said, components such as stop-start engine technology, turbochargers and direct injection may actually do the trick. Already, things like smaller engine sizes and lighter cars are already playing major roles in spurring fuel-efficiency gains. Of course, Johnson Controls sells batteries specially built for stop-start systems, so Kesseler does have a bit of skin in this game. The 54.5-mpg CAFE standard equates to about a 40-mpg "real world" fuel-efficiency level. To put that into perspective, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a report late last year that model-year 2013 average fuel economy was an even 24 mpg. That was up from 23.6 mpg for the 2012 model year and 22.4 mpg for 2011. News Source: Automotive NewsImage Credit: AP Government/Legal Green Ford Fuel Efficiency mpg CAFE standards ecoboost johnson controls