New cars and light trucks will be subject to stringent new rules to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and become more fuel efficient starting in 2011, Canada and the United States announced Thursday.
The new regulations set a uniform standard across North America and will apply to both domestically manufactured vehicles and imports.
Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the new tailpipe standards will be good for consumers and the environment.
"Clearly, any significant strategy to address greenhouse gases and pollution must take serious action to address road-vehicle emissions and that is exactly what we are dong today," he said.
"Picture a new fleet of cars and light trucks coming off the assembly line in 2016, compared to the same fleet in 2008; those new vehicles would generate 25 per cent fewer greenhouse-gas emissions."
New standards for heavy trucks are expected to come later this year, he added.
Prentice admitted the vehicles will cost "a little more up front" -- Washington has estimated about $1,100 more by 2016. But he said the increased fuel efficiency, estimated to be as much as 40 per cent, would allow owners to recoup that amount in about 18 months.
It is not clear what the announcement means for the Quebec government's policy of striking out on its own with standards that would comply with California's more ambitious proposals for vehicles.
Prentice said that since the state has signed on to the new national American policy, also unveiled Thursday in conjunction with Canada's, the California standards effectively "no longer exist."
The minister was flanked at the Canadian announcement by Ford Canada's president David Mondragon and Pollution Probe executive director Bob Oliver, both of whom praised the proposals.
Mondragon said the uniform-standard approach removes concerns in the auto sector that individual jurisdictions will apply different requirements.
Oliver called the measures a "substantial move forward" because it marks the first time greenhouse-gas emissions will be subject to specific regulation.
He added that the requirement that both small and large vehicles will need to become more efficient will drive technological improvements.
According to the government, 12 per cent of greenhouse emissions in Canada come from cars and light trucks.
U.S. President Barack Obama has said the new requirements will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil in his country over the life of the program, which will cover the 2012-2016 model years.
