New car prices fell rapidly during the 2000s until President Barack Obama imposed strict fuel economy standards as part of his global warming agenda. A recent report by the conservative Heritage Foundation confirms what economists predicted for years: top-down regulations on fuel economy have only made buying a new car more expensive and hurt the auto industry. “Federal regulations that force ever-increasing automobile fuel economy standards cost consumers thousands of dollars more than what they save on using less gas,” Heritage economists David Kreutzer and Salim Furth wrote of their study on fuel economy mandates.