According to a latest report by University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, the average fuel economy of new cars and light trucks has declined in the United States in December which shows the increasing demand of SUVs and larger vehicles.
According to the report, the average fuel economy went down 0.2 mpg to 25mpg. However, the gas price average in the country is under $2.5 which is lower than the prices from four years earlier.
Talking about the latest findings, head of the university’s Sustainable Worldwide Transportation research group said that the decline in the figures are likely due to the increasing number of light trucks compared to the passenger cars.
According to Reuters, sales of light trucks in the country increased 4.3 percent to about 10.9 million over last year while passenger cars’ sales dropped 11 percent to 6.3 million.
This is the first time the overall fuel economy has gone down since University of Michigan started tracking average window sticker fuel economy in 2007. Since then, the fuel economy has gone up by nearly 5 mpg over last decade.
