Jaguar Land Rover North America's VP of Government Affairs Discusses The EPA, Department of Transportation and New C.A.F.E. Fuel Economy Standards

by Clinton Blair

The men in suits huddled around our 2010 Land Rover line‑up on our Detroit Show stand during last week's Monday press day, could have been journalists. In fact they were opinion leaders of a different kind, writes Clinton Blair, Jaguar Land Rover North America's new Washington‑based VP of Government Affairs.

We'd invited a group of senior Environmental Protection Agency ‑ EPA ‑ officials to the stand to hear and see what Jaguar and Land Rover are doing to make its vehicles more fuel‑efficient.

What happens in the next few weeks is key. Right now the EPA and Department of Transportation are in the process of finalizing new C.A.F.E. fuel economy standards for 2016. That decision is due by the end of March.

We wanted the group to know and understand the work we're doing with our hybrid‑electric Limo‑Green vehicles, our stop‑start technology, or future powertrains and, most important, our upcoming new small Range Rover based on the LRX concept. This will be the smallest, lightest, most fuel‑efficient Range Rover ever ‑ and will help us in our efforts to meet tougher fuel economy standards.

We told them how we are investing £800 million ‑ that's almost $1.3 billion ‑ on environmental innovation, developing key technologies aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

My hope is that they went away with the clear message that, right now, Jaguar and Land Rover are completely focused on developing vehicles that meet the real environmental challenges of our rapidly‑changing world.

 Clinton Blair, VP of Government Affairs, Jaguar Land Rover North America