MPG On The Rise

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MPG On The Rise
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Although progress in increasing the US average
miles per gallon has slowed down in recent years,
it has surpassed a significant hallmark.
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Since 2004 the national MPG rating for cars and
trucks has increased by 5 miles per gallon.
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After a record increase of 1.
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2 MPG from 2011 to 2012, the EPA is predicting
slower growth for this year, but still expects to
reach the government standard of 54.5 by 2025.
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The big leap in 2012 is largely in part to
manufacturers adding turbochargers to smaller
engines and improving overall engine and
transmission performance.
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The Increase of MPG
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Although the EPA expects an increase of only .1
mile per gallon by the end of 2015 the results
are slightly skewed by the 2 increase in truck
and SUV sales.
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Hyundai and Kia contributed to a slowing of
progress by delaying the production and selling
of higher miles per gallon 2014 models.
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Light trucks have increased 16.5 since 2014 as
car sales have only increased by 2.3.
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As of September Trucks accounted for 51.3 of
all vehicles sold this year.
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MPG In Trucks and SUVs
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Without the increase in trucks and SUVs and the
production of Hyundai and Kia's newer models the
increase would have been approximately .4 mpg.
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While this number seems small, it would amount
to a 2 increase in performance from 23.6 mpg to
24 mpg which, in the automotive industry is a
solid margin of improvement but still short of
the 2012-2013 gains.
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The Perfect Combination of MPG
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Two heavy contributors to the rise of trucks and
SUVs are the relatively low gas prices throughout
the year and the significantly improved gas
mileage of these vehicles.
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Trucks and SUVs have had a combined increase of
27 in gas mileage since 2004 while cars saw a
respectable 23 increase in performance.
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Alongside the lowest average gas prices since
2011 the shift to larger vehicles was not a
surprise for the market.
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This forecast may have been why Kia and Hyundai
delayed their newer, higher-mpg models.
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Experts believe that the rather large influx of
truck and SUV purchases are due to people
upgrading their existing truck or SUV and that
the market will see a noticeable decrease in
their sales in the following years.
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However, with big changes coming to the truck
industry when the aluminum body F-150 is hitting
car lots later this year.
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Due to the sheer volume of F-150s sold
throughout the US, the F-150 could
single-handedly increase the average miles per
gallon.