Average fuel economy drops for third straight month

(July 10, 2012) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — TrueCar.com today provided actual fuel economy numbers from June light vehicle auto sales that indicate TrueMPG increased to 23.0 mpg in June 2012 compared to 21.6 mpg in June 2011, and decreased from May 2012 at 23.2 mpg. Just four years ago, in May 2008, TrueMPG was 21.2 mpg.

"The unseasonal drop in gas prices contributed to the purchase of more vehicles in less fuel efficient segments in June including larger and luxury vehicles as well as sport cars," said Jesse Toprak, vice president of Market Intelligence at TrueCar.com.

"Gas prices are the most noticeable commodity and when gas prices decline as they have done in recent months consumers feel more comfortable purchasing vehicles that are less fuel efficient as evidenced by the decline in TrueMPG over the last few months."

Below is how the top seven manufacturers fared comparing overall mpg, broken out by car and truck mpg:

 

Average TrueMPG

Average Car TrueMPG

Average Truck TrueMPG

Manufacturer

Jun-12

Jun-11

Change

Jun-12

Jun-11

Change

Jun-12

Jun-11

Change

Chrysler

19.8

18.9

0.9

22.8

21.8

1.0

18.3

17.8

0.5

Ford

22.0

20.6

1.4

26.0

24.8

1.2

19.8

18.5

1.3

GM

21.5

21.0

0.5

25.1

24.3

0.8

19.1

18.8

0.3

Honda

25.1

23.4

1.7

28.2

26.0

2.2

22.3

20.8

1.5

Hyundai

27.7

25.2

2.5

29.4

26.0

3.4

23.6

22.9

0.7

Nissan

23.0

22.6

0.4

26.2

25.4

0.8

19.8

19.4

0.4

Toyota

24.6

22.6

2.0

30.0

26.8

3.2

19.4

18.9

0.5

Volkswagen

26.3

25.4

0.9

27.5

26.7

0.8

21.9

20.5

1.4

Industry

23.0

21.6

1.4

26.7

24.8

1.9

19.8

19.0

0.8

According to TrueCar.com, the TrueMPG for vehicles sold by U.S. manufacturers averaged 21.2 MPG in June 2012, down from 21.6 MPG in June 2011. European manufacturers increased their average fuel economy for vehicles sold from 21.5 MPG to 23.3 MPG; Japanese manufacturers increased their average fuel economy from last year at 22.9 MPG to 24.5 MPG; and South Korean manufacturers increased their average fuel economy for vehicles from 25.1 MPG to 27.7 MPG.

Below is a snapshot of a few vehicle segments and how they compare from June 2012 versus June 2011:

 

Average Small Car TrueMPG

Average Midsize Car TrueMPG

Average Large Truck TrueMPG

Manufacturer

Jun-12

Jun-11

YoY

Jun-12

Jun-11

YoY

Jun-12

Jun-11

YoY

Chrysler

25.9

25.1

0.8

23.9

23.6

0.3

15.8

15.5

0.3

Ford

32.2

28.1

3.6

26.7

26.3

0.4

17.4

16.4

1.0

GM

30.1

28.8

1.3

26.1

25.3

0.8

17.1

17.0

0.1

Honda

32.0

26.1

5.9

25.9

25.5

0.4

17.2

16.9

0.3

Hyundai

31.2

25.9

5.3

27.7

26.3

1.4

 N/A

 N/A

 N/A

Mazda

29.9

25.8

4.1

24.9

24.1

0.8

 N/A

 N/A

 N/A

Mitsubishi

24.9

24.5

0.4

24.3

24.3

0.0

 N/A

 N/A

 N/A

Nissan

30.8

28.7

2.1

25.1

25.0

0.1

14.3

14.3

0.0

Subaru

27.4

22.3

5.1

24.5

23.8

0.7

 N/A

 N/A

 N/A

Suzuki

 N/A

 N/A

N/A

25.0

24.7

0.3

 N/A

 N/A

 N/A

Toyota

34.3

30.9

3.4

28.2

24.6

3.6

15.5

15.5

0.0

Volkswagen

30.8

29.2

1.6

29.0

23.6

5.4

 N/A

 N/A

 N/A

Industry

31.6

27.9

3.7

26.4

25.1

1.3

16.8

16.4

0.4