US Auto Fuel Economy Rating Rises in May

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By Paul Ausick Updated Published
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US Auto Fuel Economy Rating Rises in May

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The average fuel-economy rating for new vehicles sold in the United States in May 2016 was 25.4 miles per gallon, up 0.2 mpg compared with the April average. For all of 2015, the average fuel-economy rating for new vehicles sold was 25.3 mpg.

Compared with October 2007, fuel economy ratings on new cars sold has improved by 5.3 mpg, or more than 26%.

While the window sticker average is 5.3 mpg higher than when the data were first collected, the average is still 0.5 mpg below its all-time high of 25.8 mpg set in August 2014. When gasoline prices started dropping in the United States, consumers purchased more light trucks, sport utility vehicles and crossovers, which get lower mpg ratings and drive down the average.

The data is 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.

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The sales-weighted unadjusted Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) performance rating averaged 31.3 miles per gallon in April, down 0.2 mpg month over month and an improvement of 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.

Auto sales in the month of May fell 6.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 17.46 million vehicles, compared with a SAAR of 17.47 million in May 2015. The May sales drop is the industry’s largest since August 2010.

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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.

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