By model year 2025, automakers will be required to provide consumers with a passenger-vehicle fleet boasting an average fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg).
This figure, enshrined in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard, has been a slow, uphill climb for automakers, made steeper by 2015’s low gasoline and diesel prices, which have boosted consumers’ interest in big trucks and SUVs.
According to an analysis by Consumer Federation of America (CFA), less than half—or seven out of 18—of automakers incrementally improved the fuel economy of their 2015 models over 2014.
The other 11 lost ground. However, there is some cause for celebration: The percentage of “gas guzzlers,” or vehicles with an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy rating of 16 mpg or less, dropped from 8.5% in 2014 to 6.1% in 2015.
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