US President Obama announces vehicle standards

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US President Barack Obama has announced new standards for vehicle greenhouse gas emissions along with tougher goals for fuel efficiency.

Obama says the plan - once considered impossible - will cut American dependence on foreign oil and help to slow the havoc wreaked on the environment.

Under new standards, vehicles must cut CO-2 emissions by about a third by 2016.

While the auto industry is also required to build vehicles that can average 57 kilometers per gallon of fuel: a 30 percent improvement.

But new standards will cost consumers an extra 13-hundred US dollars per vehicle by the time the plan is fully implemented.