The average fuel-economy of light vehicles sold in the United States, increased by about 5-mpg over the past eight-plus years, but has been flat recently: from October 2007 at 20.1 mpg to April 2016 at 25.2 mpg.
Our personal family average mpg experience is: 27.4 mpg of a 2008 Ford Escape SUV HYBRID over 135,000 miles and 39.7 mpg of a 2013 Ford Fusion HYBRID over 27,500 miles.
However, U.S. government environmental regulators fuel economy standards are out-of-step with reality due to cheap gasoline prices causing buyers to purchase larger vehicles with higher mpg rating. "Oil and gasoline prices fluctuate and are unpredictable," an Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman said, adding that current rules portend unprecedented emissions reductions by 2025. "The standards...function as insurance so that fuel prices don't stall progress on cutting greenhouse gases."
To reduce greenhouse gases and packed automotive freeways, the automobile industry must sell, not just build, vehicles getting higher mileage...in concert with the federal and state governments setting higher taxes on fuel while making economic rapid transit (train, bus and rental vehicles) available for people to use in place of higher priced fuel for personal car and truck usage.
Such government sponsored programs have been wildly implemented in Europe; where people commute to work and back home on rapid transit (reducing today's slow commuter traffic of automotive vehicles) and primarily using their private automobiles, SUVs, trucks, etc. for personal pleasure or tasks close to home.
Car executives contend cheap gasoline lowers demand for more efficient vehicles needed to meet an ultimate fleet target of 54.3 mpg by 2025.
Today, automotive leadership is taking a wider view of future mobile operations to improve transportation alternatives beyond today's personal vehicle usage.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2016