(April 11, 2013) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — TrueCar today announced  fuel economy numbers from March light vehicle auto sales indicate TrueMPG increased to 23.7 mpg, the third consecutive month fuel economy records have been achieved by the industry. 

"The industry reached yet another record-high TrueMPG average in March, thanks not only to continued consumer preference for smaller vehicles but also due to significantly improved fuel efficiency of larger vehicles, especially large trucks," said Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for TrueCar.  "The highly competitive mid-size sedan segment experienced the biggest gain since last year, with Nissan and Chrysler posting the largest improvements among automakers."

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

According to TrueCar.com, the TrueMPG for vehicles sold by U.S. manufacturers averaged 21.8 MPG in March 2013, up from 21.3 MPG in March 2012. European manufacturers increased their average fuel economy for vehicles sold from 23.0 MPG to 23.4 MPG; Japanese manufacturers increased their average fuel economy from 25.0 MPG last year to 25.4 MPG; and South Korean manufacturers' average fuel economy decreased from 27.4 MPG in March 2012 to 27.3 last month.

Below is a snapshot of a few vehicle segments and how they compare from March 2013 versus March 2012: