By Carol E. Lee, Laura Stevens and Alicia Mundy 

President Barack Obama on Tuesday ordered his administration to develop and implement new fuel-efficiency standards for medium and heavy-duty commercial trucks by March 2016.

Environmental groups and an alliance of large fleet operators including FedEx Corp. and Con-way Inc. came out in favor of the order while representatives of smaller trucking firms expressed worries that coming regulations would raise prices on future truck purchases.

The call for tougher fuel-economy standards is part of the president's climate change strategy, a focus of his second term, and delivers on proposals he had previously suggested as early as last June in a speech on his environmental plans.

Environmental groups said they welcomed the move. "Strong heavy truck efficiency standards will not only cut carbon pollution that fuels climate change," but also save money for consumers and truckers, said Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which lobbies for environmental protection.

Brian Mormino, executive director for environmental strategy and compliance at engine maker Cummins Inc., said the company believes it would be able to meet stricter fuel efficiency standards. Cummins, truck maker Paccar Inc. and the Department of Energy have been working on fuel reduction technologies since 2009.

"We are not going to have to implement radical changes to the engine systems," Mr. Mormino said. "It's still going to be based on the core engine architecture put forth in 2010."

However, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, a trade group of small business trucking companies and professional drivers, cautioned the changes could make new vehicles too expensive for its members.

About 97% of the 1.3 million trucking companies in the U.S. have fewer than 20 trucks. Those are already struggling to manage new federal rules that limit truck driving hours to reduce chronic fatigue and related crashes, it contends.

"Shock and awe may be the best way to describe what's happening to the vast majority in trucking with these proposed regulations," Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president, said in a statement. "Large trucks are vital tools, essential to our economy and our way of life, and most truck operators are small-business people just getting by."

In a statement, the American Trucking Associations, the Washington lobby for the trucking industry, urged Mr. Obama to proceed "judiciously" with any new regulations.

"Fuel is one of our industry's largest expenses, so it makes sense that as an industry we would support proposals to use less of it," said ATA President Bill Graves. He said he hoped the administration's new rules would be economically viable.

As he has previously, Mr. Obama cast the move as one that will reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and will help grow the economy.

"Today America is closer to energy independence than we've been in decades," he said during an event at a Safeway grocery store distribution center in Upper Marlboro, Md., a Washington suburb.

He said that while heavy-duty trucks account for 4% of the vehicles on U.S. highways, they account for about 20% of on-road fuel consumption.

The announcement of standards for vehicle fuel efficiency is the latest of several actions by Mr. Obama in which he has turned to his executive and regulatory authority, because his administration has been struggling to pass initiatives through Congress.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation would work jointly to produce the proposed regulations, the administration said.

Robert Tita contributed to this article.

Write to Carol E. Lee at carol.lee@wsj.com and Laura Stevens at laura.stevens@wsj.com

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