US mileage standards for cars up for first time

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Friday imposed the first increase in fuel efficiency standards for passenger cars, requiring model year 2011 vehicles to average 30.2 miles per gallon.

A copy of the fuel efficiency rule obtained by Reuters would require sport utilities, vans, and pickups -- the light truck class -- to achieve 24.1 mpg.

The standard is estimated to save nearly 900 million gallons of fuel and to cost the industry $1.4 billion, the regulation said.

Congress has required cars and light trucks to average 35 mpg by 2020, a 40 percent increase over today's standards. (Reporting by John Crawley. editing by Gerald E. McCormick)