Smaller crossovers and SUVS, like the Toyota RAV4, are helping to improve the overall fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the U.S.
Despite the continuing increases in truck and sport utility vehicle sales, the fuel economy of new vehicles sold during March and April improved, according to the monthly survey by the University of Michigan Transportation Institute.
UMTRI researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle reported the average fuel economy or window-sticker value of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in April was 25.3 miles per gallon —an 0.1 mpg improvement from the value for March.
The small increase last month basically matched the gain in the average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in March, which was 25.2 mpg — 0.1 mpg from the value for February.
The value for April is up 5.2 mpg since October 2007, when UMTRI officially launched its monthly monitoring of fuel economy, but down 0.2 mpg from the peak of 25.5 mpg reached in August 2014. For March, the fuel-economy figure was up 5.1 mpg since October 2007 but off 0.3 mpg from the August, 2015 peak.
(VW sweetens the deal to move leftover diesels. Click Here for the story.)
The drop off from the peak in fuel economy in the summer of 2014, followed a sudden drop in the price of gasoline and crude oil on global market, which has helped lift sales of truck and SUVs.
While passenger-car sales have dropped, the addition of compact sport-utility vehicles or crossover vehicles with more efficient engines by a number manufacturers has helped offset and further drops in the fuel economy numbers due to the aforementioned sales of trucks and SUVs, which account for almost two-thirds of the vehicles sold in the U.S.
(Click Here for details about U.S. new vehicle sales in April.)
UMTRI also reported that the University of Michigan Eco-Driving Index (EDI)—an index that estimates the average monthly emissions of greenhouse gases generated by an individual U.S. driver—was 0.85 in February 2017, up 0.01 from the value for January 2017.
A lower the value is better in terms of greenhouse gas emissions since the value expressed by the figure, indicates that the average new-vehicle driver produced 15% lower emissions in February 2017 than in October 2007, but 7% higher emissions than the record low reached in November 2013, according to the records compiled for UMTRI by Sivak and Schoettle.
(To see what TDB thinks of the new Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, Click Here.)
The EDI takes into account both vehicle fuel economy and distance driven (the latter relying on data that are published with a two-month lag.