The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced it will increase the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard for light trucks by 1.5 mpg over the next three years. Under the new rule, the current standard of 20.7 mpg will increase to 21.0 mpg for the 2005-model year, 21.6 mpg for the 2006-model year, and 22.2 mpg for 2007-model year. The final rule adopts the proposed standards that were is-sued by NHTSA in December 2002 and apply to pickup trucks, vans, and sport/utility vehicles. NHTSA said the in-crease will save 3.6 billion gallons of gas over the lifetimes of covered vehicles. The action marks the first increase in fuel economy stan-dards since CAFE standards were frozen by Congress for six years through a provision in the DOT’s annual appropriations acts.