The country’s stance would seem to put it on the wrong side of market trends. But with its huge investment in gasoline-electric hybrids, it has big reasons to proceed slowly.
The five — Ford, Honda, BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo — sealed a binding agreement with California to follow the state’s stricter tailpipe emissions rules.
The Justice Department has told four carmakers that they violated no laws when they negotiated a fuel economy standard with California that is more stringent than Washington’s.
The investigation escalates a standoff between President Trump, California and the auto industry over one of his most significant rollbacks of climate regulations.
