CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) regulations have regulated the fuel consumption of American vehicles since 1975. In 2009, President Obama had raised the bar on automotive manufacturers to achieve an average of 35.5mpg across their product lines by 2016. His latest announcement brings that requirement even higher. Beginning in 2017, each model year will be required to achieve a 5% increase over prior years until reaching a peak of 54.5mpg by 2025. Environmentalists were pushing for a 60mpg requirement while manufacturers countered their top selling pick-up trucks would need a longer development cycle to reach that goal. Ultimately, the 54.5mpg concession is predicted to cut America’s current oil dependency in half.