Fuel economy for new cars sold In May drops slightly from April

(June 12, 2012) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — TrueCar.com today provided actual fuel economy numbers from May light vehicle auto sales that indicate TrueMPG increased to 23.2 mpg in May 2012 compared to 21.9 mpg in May 2011, but decreased from April's 23.3 mpg. Just four years ago, in May 2008, TrueMPG was 21.2 mpg.

"We continue to see increases in fuel economy among the major manufacturers compared to the previous years but as we've started to see a decline in gas prices in recent weeks, consumer preferences showed a slight shift toward larger, less-fuel-efficient vehicles," said Jesse Toprak, Vice President of Market Intelligence at TrueCar.com.

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

May-12

May-11

Change

May-12

May-11

Change

May-12

May-11

Change

Chrysler

19.8

19.3

0.5

22.9

22.1

0.8

18.2

18.0

0.2

Ford

22.3

21.0

1.3

26.3

25.0

1.3

19.7

18.8

0.9

GM

21.5

21.2

0.3

25.3

24.1

1.2

19.0

18.9

0.1

Honda

25.2

23.6

1.6

28.4

26.4

2.0

22.4

20.8

1.6

Hyundai

27.7

25.7

2.0

29.6

26.4

3.2

23.7

23.1

0.6

Nissan

23.0

22.8

0.2

26.0

25.1

0.9

20.0

19.6

0.4

Toyota

24.7

23.1

1.6

30.3

27.3

3.0

19.6

19.2

0.4

Volkswagen

26.6

25.2

1.4

27.7

26.7

1.0

21.7

20.6

1.1

Industry

23.2

21.9

1.3

26.9

24.9

2.0

19.8

19.2

0.6

According to TrueCar.com, the TrueMPG for vehicles sold by U.S. manufacturers averaged 21.3 MPG in May 2012, up from 20.7 MPG in May 2011. European manufacturers increased their average fuel economy for vehicles sold from 21.6 MPG to 23.3 MPG; Japanese manufacturers increased their average fuel economy from last year at 23.3 MPG to 24.6 MPG; and South Korean manufacturers increased their average fuel economy for vehicles from 25.5 MPG to 27.7 MPG.

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

 

Average Small Car TrueMPG

Average Midsize Car TrueMPG

Average Large Truck TrueMPG

Manufacturer

May-12

May-11

Change

May-12

May-11

Change

May-12

May-11

Change

Chrysler

24.9

25.1

-0.2

23.9

23.6

0.3

15.8

15.6

0.2

Ford

32.2

28.1

3.6

26.7

25.6

1.1

17.5

16.6

0.9

GM

30.2

27.8

2.4

26.1

25.3

0.8

17.1

17.0

0.1

Honda

32.0

26.8

5.2

25.9

25.6

0.3

17.2

16.9

0.3

Hyundai/Kia

31.4

27.0

4.4

27.7

26.4

1.3

 N/A

 N/A

 N/A

Mazda

29.8

25.9

3.9

25.0

23.5

1.5

 N/A

 N/A

 N/A

Mitsubishi

25.4

25.9

-0.5

24.3

24.3

0.0

 N/A

 N/A

 N/A

Nissan

30.5

28.7

1.8

25.2

24.7

0.5

14.3

14.2

0.1

Subaru

27.4

22.2

5.2

24.5

23.9

0.6

 N/A

 N/A

 N/A

Suzuki

 N/A

 N/A

N/A

25.0

24.9

0.1

 N/A

 N/A

 N/A

Toyota

34.1

32.1

2.0

28.5

24.5

4.0

15.5

15.6

-0.1

Volkswagen

31.3

29.3

2.0

28.7

24.2

4.5

 N/A

 N/A

 N/A

Industry

31.6

28.2

3.4

26.4

25.1

1.3

16.8

16.5

0.3