In business, if you aren't innovating then you're falling behind. Apparently, the auto industry and the Trump administration missed that business school class.

This week, President Donald Trump ordered a review of motor vehicle fuel efficiency standards, a move that environmental and consumer groups rightly fear is a step toward rolling back aggressive targets that the Obama administration had set years earlier. Automakers had complained that they could not make the goals and would end up cutting jobs or making cars that are beyond the pocketbooks of many Americans.

We've heard this tired refrain before and it remains every bit off key now as has in the past. For all their complaints, carmakers have found innovative ways to meet or exceed fuel-economy standards since mandates went into effect in 1978. And according to an EPA report last year, the industry is on pace to meeting the Obama targets. Why let them off the hook now?

Under the Obama standards, automakers' fleets are expected to get an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. That goal might seem lofty, but so did 30 miles per gallon back in the 1970s when gasoline was cheap and gas guzzlers ruled the roads. Then an OPEC oil embargo drove up gasoline prices and left Americans standing in long lines at the pump.

Prodded by fuel economy mandates, automakers got serious about making more fuel-efficient cars, only to return to profligate ways when gasoline prices fell. But when gas prices rose, the industry again was caught on the wrong side of market forces with fleets filled with gas-guzzling SUVs and light trucks. Remember the Hummer, an oversized military-inspired truck? It was hot before it abruptly went the way of the dinosaur the moment gas prices soared.

Consumers also want more fuel-efficient vehicles. A recent Consumers Union survey found that an overwhelming majority of drivers favor automakers increasing fuel economy for all vehicle types and think the government should increase and enforce fuel efficiency standards. Fuel efficiency was the top concern for nearly all drivers, regardless of the kind of vehicle they now drive.

Automakers say they would need to use lighter materials and sell more hybrid vehicles, electric and other low-emission vehicles to meet the 2025 standard. That's true, but the marketplace isn't standing still. Europe and China have aggressive fuel economy targets so U.S. carmakers must keep pace in order to sell cars in those markets. Plus, improving fuel efficiency will help reduce gasoline consumption and carbon dioxide emissions and reduce dependence on foreign oil.

Fuel economy standards are a net win for consumers, the environment, national security and automakers even if they are reluctant to admit it.

A rollback now would be a major mistake.