U.S. Fuel Economy Nearly Flat in July

The WardsAuto Fuel Economy Index indicates the average fuel economy of light vehicles sold in the U.S. in July was 25.3 mpg (9.3 L/100 km), up just 0.5% from same-month 2014, the lowest year-over-year improvement since August 2010.

The national average gasoline price was $2.88, 0.2% less than in June and 21.9% below year-ago. July marked the 12th consecutive month of year-over-year price declines, eight of which are in the double-digits.

Consistently low gas prices have moved shoppers away from hybrid and plug-in hybrid models, likely bringing market share of these power-types to a 4-year low for full-2015. Also, the average fueling cost of a standard gasoline-powered light truck so far in 2015 is lower than that for cars in 2014, encouraging the growing share of the light-truck segments.

Diesel and electric variants of the Golf helped boost Volkswagen’s July rating up 7.0% from same-month 2014. At 30.3 mpg (7.8 L/100 km), VW was still the only automaker (except electric-only Tesla) above 30 mpg (7.8 L/100 km).

Jaguar Land Rover hit a record-high 19.9 mpg (11.8 L/100 km), nearly reaching the 20 mpg (11.8 L/100 km) benchmark already passed by every other automaker on the index. An unusually high share of CUVs over SUVs lifted July’s result 5.2% above year-ago. However, JLR was up only 0.8% year-to-date

Subaru posted a small uptick from last month to an all-time high 27.5 mpg (8.6 L/100 km), up 4.4% from last year due to a shift to cars from CUVs.

Nissan experienced a significant drop in the sales of EVs and small cars, bringing the automaker’s rating down 5.7% in July and 2.0% year-to-date.

Toyota has seen share of all car segments and alternative power types drop in favor of trucks and standard gasoline powertrains. A 2.4% downturn in July brought the 7-month average 2.3% below like-2014, the worst change of any index-tracked automaker.

Midsize cars are the only segment group with negative year-over-year results, down 2.6% for the month and 1.4% for January-July. This group has suffered the most from diminishing electrified-powertrain sales.

SUVs rose to a record 18.5 mpg (12.7 L/100 km) after a 6-month stretch at 18.4 mpg (12.8 L/100 km). These vehicles need the most improvement to reach CAFE standards and are the slowest growing light-truck segment on the index, up just 1.7% over the first seven months of this year.

Through July, the light-vehicle index rating sat at 25.4 mpg (9.3 L/100 km), up 1.1%, the lowest rise for the period in the 8-year history of the index.

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