US Average Fuel Economy Continues to Fall

The average fuel economy of all new cars sold in the U.S. continued to fall through November, landing at 25 mpg.

That is down by 0.1 mpg compared to October and 0.8 mpg compared to the fuel economy peak reached in August 2014 of 25.8 mpg. The consistent slip in fuel economy can be attributed to the rise in pickup truck and SUV sales, a trend spurred by falling gas prices.

SEE ALSO: Average US Fuel Economy Drops for Third Straight Month

Researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute put together these sales-weighted fuel economy numbers using monthly sales numbers for light-duty vehicles.

When the researchers began tracking fuel economy in October of 2007 new cars in the U.S. were at an average of 20.1 mpg. Automakers are working towards the government-mandated CAFE rules, which states that each company’s fleet must have an average of 54.5 mpg by 2025.

[Source: UMTRI]