Outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s government promised to set fuel economy standards as long ago as 2007, when it first presented the country’s climate-change strategy. Finally, this past July, the government unveiled its proposal, which calls for Mexico to match United States fuel-efficiency standards by 2016. There seemed no reason for Mexico’s automakers to object. Three quarters of the 2.3 million cars Mexico exports this year will go to the U.S., Canada or Europe, so the industry is already making cars that meet the stringent fuel-economy standards of those markets. But automakers here have put up a united front against the regulation, which would be Latin America’s first automobile-mileage standard. Months of fractious talks broke down last year; and after the... [Log in to read more]