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LOS ANGELES — The nation’s automakers say they will sue California to block a landmark anti-global warming bill that restricts carbon dioxide emissions from cars. 

The measure, which squeaked by the state Legislature despite a multimillion-dollar opposition campaign by carmakers and auto workers, was signed Monday by Gov. Gray Davis. 

California already has the nation’s most stringent standards for other vehicle pollutants. The new law sets emission standards for CO2 and other greenhouse gases that would apply to new passenger cars and light trucks beginning in 2009. 

It is “the first bill in America designed to combat global warming,” Davis said before signing the measure on a hot, smoggy day along a pine-scented trail in Griffith Park, the sprawling, hilly expanse near downtown. “We are going to set an example for the country.” 

The governor said he believed other states and the federal government eventually would follow suit. 

Opponents quickly condemned the measure, saying it would increase the price of vehicles and would reduce greenhouse gases globally by less than 1 percent. 

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said it would challenge the law in federal court. 

The bill “will reduce the freedom of choice” by pricing sport utility vehicles, minivans and other models out of some consumers’ range, said a statement from the American Highway Users Alliance, a Washington-based nonprofit advocacy group. 

The bill maintains that passenger cars and light trucks are responsible for 40 percent of California’s carbon dioxide emissions. The gases form a heat-trapping blanket in the atmosphere that scientists fear could cause disruptions in farming and the snowpack that provides much of Southern California’s water. 

More than 2 million cars were sold in California last year, making it the nation’s biggest auto market, so the law’s impact on the auto industry was expected to be enormous. 

Davis portrayed the measure as flexible and cost-effective. It doesn’t set any new fuel economy standards or mandate any changes to individual makes of cars, nor does it ban gas-hogging SUVs, the governor said. 

The emission standards would apply to the average pollution from an automakers’ line. Carmakers can partially meet the standards by reducing non-auto pollution, such as emissions from their factories. 

Though the legislation does not affect large polluters like big rigs or other commercial vehicles, environmental groups were jubilant. 

“This bill is an earthshaking event. This is going to start us on the fight against global warming,” said David G. Hawkins of the Natural Resources Defense Council. 

Supporters also included water districts worried about declining snow melt, the state’s largest cities and director Rob Reiner, who was at Monday’s signing.