U.S.

Gas Mileage Drops To 20-Year Low

December 20, 2000 / 8:09 AM EST / AP

America's love affair with gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles and pickups is keeping national fuel economy at a 20-year low, the government says.

With automakers focusing on the bigger, more powerful vehicles, the Environmental Protection Agency found that average gasoline mileage for 2000 model year passenger vehicles was 24 miles per gallon, the same as last year and the lowest since 1980. The figure had climbed to 25.9 mpg in 1987 and 1988.

The drop in fuel economy corresponds to a surge in sales of "light trucks," which include vans, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. Those now account for 46 percent of all U.S. passenger vehicle sales.

Best & Worst Cars And Light Trucks
For Fuel Economy

Best Cars
miles per gallon

Honda Insight 76.3

Honda Civic HX 43.5

Toyota Echo 42.1

GM Imports Metro 41.1

Suzuki Swift 40.1

Worst Cars

Ferrari 550 Maranello 11.7

Ferrari 456 MGT-MGTA 13.4

Ferrari 360 Modena-Spider 14.5

Rolls-Royce Bentley Azure 14.9

Rolls-Royce Bentley Arnage 14.9

Rolls-Royce Bentley Continental SC 14.9

Best Trucks

Toyota RAV4 2WD 30.6

GM Tracker 2WD Convertible 29.5

GM Tracker 2WD Hardtop 28.8

GM Tracker 4X4 Convertible 28.5

Toyota RAV4 Soft Top 4WD 28.2

Worst Trucks

Chrysler B2500 Wagon 2WD 15.7

GM Escalade 4WD 16.1

Ford Navigator 2WD 16.1

Chrysler Ram 1500 4WD 16.1

Rover Range Rover 16.2

GM K1500 Yukon 4WD 16.2

Chrysler Durango 4WD 16.2

(Source: AP)

Light trucks tend to weigh more than cars and get fewer miles to the gallon. The average 2000 car gets 28.1 mpg, while light trucks get 20.5 mpg.

"Consumers want cars that have certain performance features," said Gloria Bergquist, spokeswoman of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers that lobbies on behalf of 13 automakers. "We sell cars that get 40 miles per gallon, but fewer than 2 percent of consumers buy them."

But Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club's global warming program, said Tuesday that automakers spend much of their huge advertising budgets pushing lower-mileage SUVs because they are so proitable.

"They have found that the American public will buy a large pile of steel with plush seats and cup holders, despite the fact that they will guzzle gas, pollute the air and roll over and kill people," he said.

Better gas mileage would reduce oil consumption, lower fuel costs and lower carbon dioxide emissions, he said. Passenger vehicles discharge about 20 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States.

The federal government's Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, adopted in 1975 to boost fuel economy, require each automaker to reach a 27.5 mpg average fuel economy on new passenger cars and 20.7 mpg for light trucks. The automakers do not have to reach the standard for each vehicle, but their entire fleet must meet the average.

Critics say the standards are too low, but since 1996 the auto industry has successfully lobbied Congress to block the Clinton administration from even studying a possible increase.

Pain At The Pump

Just how high are gasoline prices? Check out the American Automobile Association's constantly updated chart on gas prices nationwide, or, for a look at prices in your area, check out the AAA's chart on gas prices, state-by-state.

The EPA report, published last week, said new technologies are on the market that could increase fuel economy, but automakers instead have focused on building heavier vehicles and increasing acceleration. Vehicles that are heavier or have higher horsepower need more gas to operate, making it difficult to lower fuel economy even when new technologies emerge.

The average fuel economy for 1981 vehicles was 24.1 mpg slightly higher than model year 2000. But if the 2000 fleet had the same average weight and performance as in 1981 with today's technologies, it could have achieved 25 percent higher fuel economy, according to the report. That would have saved more than 10 billion gallons of gasoline per year, according to EPA officials.

The weigt of cars and light trucks increased 10 percent and 16 percent, respectively, since 1981. Today's cars can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 10.3 seconds, on average, down from 14.4 seconds in 1981. Average 0-to-60 acceleration for light trucks has moved from 14.6 seconds to 11.0 seconds.

Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG have been working with the federal government since 1993 to develop higher-mileage vehicles in a program called the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles.

Under that program, the Clinton-Gore administration challenged automakers to develop by 2004 production prototypes of a family size sedan that would get at least 80 miles per gallon. All three automakers have produced concept cars that at least come close to reaching the goal and are using the technology to develop production vehicles with better gas mileage.

Ford announced last summer that it would increase the fuel economy of its SUV fleet by 25 percent by the 2005 model year. GM responded by pledging to keep the fuel economy of its light truck fleet better than Ford's.

The report said if all the automakers increased their passenger vehicle fleets' gas mileage by 25 percent in five years, average fuel economy would increase to 30 mpg.