Kurt Verlin
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Honda Remains Most Fuel-Efficient Automaker* in America

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*Excluding Tesla

The 2017 Honda CR-V has a starting MSRP of $24,045 and earns up to 32 mpg on the highway

The 2021 EPA Automotive Trends Report shows that Honda has the highest fleet average fuel economy and lowest fleet average CO2 emissions among all “full-line” automakers in America, a repeat of its performance in the 2020 report as well as in the 2019 report.

The EPA found that over a period of five model years, from 2015 to 2020, Honda improved the average fuel economy of its fleet by 0.6 miles per gallon and reduced emissions by seven grams of CO2 per mile. These are fairly small improvements compared to the last two reports, in which Honda had improved its fuel economy by 1.9 mpg (from 2014 to 2019) and by 2.6 mpg (from 2013 to 2018).


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But this steady decline in improvement seems to be consistent across the industry. In the 2019 report, the average fuel economy across all manufacturers had gone up 0.9 mpg compared to five years prior. In the 2020 report, it had also gone up by 0.9 mpg over five years, but was actually down overall compared to the year immediately prior — and the same went for greenhouse gas emissions.

Overall, it seems automakers are in the realm of diminishing returns and struggling to achieve significant gains. According to the EPA, that’s because the large vehicle market share continues to increase. All types of vehicles are getting more efficient, but car-based SUVs, truck-based SUVs, and pickup trucks remain significantly less efficient than passenger cars. In fact, truck-based SUVs reached a record-high 39 percent of production for the 2020 model year, and the EPA expects the 2021 model year will continue in that direction.

“The trend away from sedan/wagons, which remain the vehicle type with the highest fuel economy and lowest CO2 emissions, and towards vehicle types with lower fuel economy and higher CO2 emissions, has offset some of the fleetwide benefits that otherwise would have been achieved from the improvements within each vehicle type,” the report says.

The elephant in the room is, of course, Tesla. Honda, like Mazda before it, is keen to make the distinction that it tops “full-line automakers” because overall, Tesla has by far the most fuel efficient and cleanest model lineup in the industry. That lineup just doesn’t happen to include all types of vehicles. When the Cybertruck launches, it may be hard for Honda and co. to continue making these claims.