U.S. Fuel Economy Down in March

The average fuel economy of light vehicles sold in March was 25.3 mpg (9.3 L/100 km), the latest WardsAuto Fuel Economy Index indicates, down 0.6% from same-month 2015, the largest year-over-year drop since August 2010.

Light trucks, which hit record-high penetration for the month, scored 21.8 mpg (10.8 L/100 km), up 0.7% from year-ago. Cars improved 0.8% overall, rating 29.7 mpg (7.9 L/100 km). Although both vehicle types improved, the strong shift to trucks brought the whole market average down.

Domestic models suffered the most, falling 0.7% to 24.8 mpg (9.5 L/100 km). Imported vehicles scored 27.1 mpg (8.7 L/100 km) in March, down 0.2% from year-ago.

The most popular segment, CUVs, rated 24.2 mpg (9.7 L/100 km) on average, 1.6% better than like-2015. Small cars (+1.4%) and midsize cars (+1.5%) scored higher than last year, but lost significant market share. Vans (-1.1%) and pickups (-1.1%) gained share, particularly with bigger, less-efficient models.

The national average gasoline price was $2.071 per gallon, 10.6% higher than February, but 18.7% below prior-year.  Market share of standard gas models was higher than March 2015, at the expense of diesels, electrics and hybrids. Plug-in hybrids were the only alternative powertrain to gain share, to 0.3% from 0.2%.

Those power-type trends were a significant factor in Ford showing the sharpest decline of tracked automakers, down 4.8% from year-ago to 22.9 mpg (10.3 L/100 km).

Mitsubishi was the highest-scoring automaker (excluding electric-only Tesla) as it reached a company-best 32.0 mpg (7.3 L/100 km), up 5.8% from prior-year. Increased sales of the Mirage boosted share of small cars, leaving CUV share down.

Mazda showed a small uptick to a record high of 30.2 mpg (7.8 L/100 km).

A small shift from CUVs to cars and growing demand for plug-in hybrids helped Hyundai rise to 28.4 mpg (8.3 L/100 km) in March.

The WardsAuto FEI rating slipped 0.3% to 25.2 mpg (9.3 L/100 km) for the first quarter of 2016, 0.1% higher than Q4 2015, but 0.3% below same-period year-ago.

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