Cars and Drivers

US Auto Fuel Economy Rating at 24.9 mpg in November

Paul Ausick

Published: December 9, 2016 12:35 pm

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 4:56 pm

The average fuel-economy rating for new vehicles sold in the United States in November 2016 was 24.9 miles per gallon, unchanged compared with the revised October average. For all of 2015, the average fuel-economy rating for new vehicles sold was 25.3 mpg.

For model year 2017, the EPA has revised its methodology for calculating the window-sticker fuel-economy value for new vehicles. In order to make the data for previous model years comparable with model year 2017 (and future model years), the EPA also retroactively revised the corresponding data for some vehicles in model years 2011 to 2016.

Compared with October 2007, fuel economy ratings on new cars sold has improved by 4.9 miles per gallon, or about 26%.

While the window sticker average is 4.9 mpg higher than when the data were first collected, the average is still 0.6 mpg below its revised all-time high of 25.5 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.

The sales-weighted unadjusted Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) performance rating averaged 31.3 miles per gallon in November, up by 0.1 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.

U.S. auto sales in the month of November were essentially flat year over year at 1.379 million units. On a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) basis, the total slipped from 17.98 million units in October to 17.83 million units in November. In November 2015 the SAAR came in at 18.07 million units.