Fuel Economy Rating of New Cars Sold Ticks Down in August

By Paul Ausick Updated Apr 27, 9:48PM EDT · Published Sep 2, 1:40PM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

New vehicles sold in the month of August averaged 25.3 miles per gallon, down 0.1 mpg compared with the July rating. Compared with October 2007, fuel economy ratings on new cars sold has improved by 5.2 mpg, or nearly 26%.

The data are based on the average sales-weighted fuel-economy rating printed on a new car’s window sticker and is compiled by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute.

The sales-weighted unadjusted Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) performance rating averaged 31.3 miles per gallon in August, up 6.6 mpg since October 2007. These values are not directly comparable to the window-sticker ratings because these are adjusted by the EPA and used to derive the window-sticker ratings.

While the window sticker average is 5.2 mpg higher than when the data were first collected, the average is still 0.5 mpg below its all-time high set of 25.8 mpg set in August 2014. When gasoline prices started dropping in the United States, consumers purchased more light trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs), which get lower mpg ratings and drive down the average.

Manufacturers’ improvements in fuel economy ratings (driven by government policy in most cases) is a fundamental and permanent change in America, similar to changes in the use of public transportation, increases in telecommuting and changes in the age composition of drivers. U.S. demand for gasoline is expected to continue to decline as automakers work toward the fleet mileage mandated average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

According to Kelley Blue Book, sales of full-size SUVs, crossovers and pickups rose 9.3% year over year for the first six months of the year. Sales of full-size pickups were up 4.7% in the first six months of the year. Luxury SUV and crossover sales rose fastest of all SUVs and light trucks: up 30.9% for compact vehicles in the first half of 2015 and up 13.1% for full-size vehicles.

ALSO READ: America’s Best and Worst Car Brands

About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.