(August 10,2012) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — TrueCar.com today provided actual fuel economy numbers from June light vehicle auto sales that indicate TrueMPG increased to 23.1 mpg in July 2012 compared to 21.6 mpg in July 2011, and increased from May 2012 at 23.0 mpg. Just four years ago, in May 2008, TrueMPG was 21.2 mpg.

"There is a very strong correlation, nearly 71 percent, between TrueMPG and average gas prices since January of 2010, indicating that the prices at the pump influence consumer preferences," said Jesse Toprak, Vice President of Market Intelligence at TrueCar.com.

"Manufacturers have been responding by offering a larger mix of smaller vehicles and improving efficiencies on their existing larger vehicle engines, as evidenced by the significant improvement in TrueMPG in the recent years."

Below is how the top seven 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 21.0 MPG in July 2012, up from 20.2 MPG in July 2011.

European manufacturers increased their average fuel economy for vehicles sold from 21.3 MPG to 23.7 MPG; Japanese manufacturers increased their average fuel economy from last year at 23.0 MPG to 24.4 MPG; and South Korean manufacturers increased their average fuel economy for vehicles from 24.6 MPG to 27.8 MPG.

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