Major truck and engine manufacturers have brokered a truce with California’s plan for phasing out sales of polluting diesel rigs in a landmark deal with state regulators. 

Under the pact announced Thursday between the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association and California Air Resources Board, state regulators agreed to relax existing standards for nitrogen oxide pollution so they align with the federal government’s rules. Engine and truckmakers also will get the assurance of more time to meet new requirements and more protection for legacy engines.

In return, the engine and truck makers are vowing to satisfy the state’s zero-emission vehicle targets and air pollution curbs, even if they are later overturned in court. 

Jed Mandel, president of the manufacturers group, praised the plan to align California’s truck emission rules with the federal requirements set to kick in 2027, calling that an industry priority. “These trucks are sold in relative low volume, the emission controls are expensive to buy and spreading them across fleets makes sense,” Mandel said by phone. 

The agreement applies to big rigs as well as some heavy-duty pickups — those weighing more than 14,000 pounds, including models made by General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV, which owns the Ram brand. Between 2015 and 2020, an average of 450,000 of those so-called Class 4-8 vehicles were sold annually in the US, according to the manufacturers association.

The impact could reach far beyond California, because many states adopt that state’s air pollution rules — even when the requirements are tougher than US Environmental Protection Agency mandates. Nitrogen oxide pollution is linked with respiratory infections, asthma and impaired lung function.

CARB has been on a roll under President Joe Biden’s administration, which last year reinstated California’s authority to impose its own pollution limits on light-duty vehicles. That reversed efforts by former President Donald Trump to curtail the standard-setting power of California, a longstanding trendsetter on environmental regulations.

The coalition backing the plan includes the trade group as well as Cummins Inc., Daimler Truck North America, Ford, GM, Hino Motors Limited, Inc., Izuzu Technical Center of America, Inc., Navistar, Inc., Stellantis and Volvo Group North America.

CARB Chair Liane Randolph called the agreement an “unprecedented collaboration” that shows industry and the state unite “to tackle pollution and climate change” while also ensuring “the success of the truck owners and operators who provide critical services to California’s economy.”