“Thanks to a bumper crop of fuel efficient models in the most popular segments, consumers don’t have to choose between fuel efficiency and performance,” said Alan Baum, principal of Baum & Associates. “No matter what type of vehicle you want, midsize car, minivan, SUV or pickup truck, carmakers are now upping fuel efficiency performance across the board. The new era of auto fuel efficiency is truly here.”
Based on the year-to-date sales data from model year 2012 (October 2011 to June 2012), as tracked by the University of Michigan, the U.S. fleet fuel efficiency average is expected to exceed government regulators’ forecast of a fleet wide average of 23.4 mpg for model year 2012.
Toyota Motor Corp.’s (NYSE: TM) Prius tops the list of the most fuel efficient cars for 2012-2013. Ford Motor Co.’s (NYSE: F) Fusion Hybrid is also in the top ten.