On December 3, the Trump administration announced plans to roll back fuel economy standards established under the Biden administration, claiming the move will “save Americans $109 billion over five years and shave $1,000 off the average cost of a new car.”

On Fox Business’ The Bottom Line, host Dagen McDowell disputed the claim that the change would lower the cost of car purchases, arguing that if you lower fuel economy standards, people will buy “larger vehicles,” which are “by their very nature more expensive vehicles,” and suggested that these vehicles will also cost consumers more at the pump.

E&E News also reported that auto experts say “easing the standards won’t give consumers much price relief because supply chain constraints, tight inventories, the expansion of new technologies like autonomous driving and consumer preference for larger, heavier vehicles are more influential contributors to increasing vehicle costs.”

The price of cars has become the latest consumer item to become an indicator of affordability.

As The Wall Street Journal reported:

Biden administration officials had estimated that the rule, which required automakers to meet an average fuel efficiency of about 50 mpg for new vehicles by 2031, would “lower fuel costs by $23 billion while preventing more than 710 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere by 2050 — the equivalent of taking 165,000 cars off the roads.”