U.S. light duty vehicles – fuel economy

Historical data from the United States provide a useful perspective to assess light duty fuel economy trends — in particular new vehicle fuel economy, measured in miles per gallon (MPG).

The chart on the left shows the average MPG for all new light duty vehicles (in yellow) for the years 1975 through 2005. Average fuel economy increased dramatically in the late 1970s and early 1980s, following fuel price increases and the original implementation of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. It then held fairly steady at about 21 MPG for 20 years. Similar trends are evident for cars and trucks as well.

The middle chart shows the average weight of new vehicles — in pounds — over the same period. It is easy to see that early gains in fuel economy corresponded with significant declines in vehicle weight. More recently, the average weight has moved upwards such that average new vehicle weight in 2005 was about the same as in 1975.

The chart shows that both cars and light duty trucks have been getting heavier in recent years. It also reflects the fact that new vehicle sales have shifted toward a greater share for trucks over time.

The chart on the right shows normalized fuel economy trends, adjusted for vehicle weight, to indicate ton-MPG. These patterns reveal underlying fuel efficiency gains of 1.3 percent per year over the past 25 years.

For the U.S., and the OECD OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) Member Countries (30) Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States nations in total, future fuel economy improvements are expected to more than offset growth in the overall fleet size. These gains will come from evolutionary changes to conventional engine technologies, along with penetration of advanced vehicle technologies. As a result, light duty vehicle fuel demand in the OECD is expected to decline with time.

On the next page, you will find the outlook for the U.S. light duty vehicle fleet and fuel economy to 2030.