Automotive Technology Has Improved Performance and Fuel Economy of New Light Vehicles
April 13, 2015
Despite a 124% increase in horsepower and 47% decrease in 0-60 time from 1980 to 2014, the fuel economy of vehicles improved 27%. All of these data series are sales-weighted averages. The weight of the vehicle appears to have an inverse relationship with fuel economy thus many manufacturers are working to reduce vehicle weight.
Light Vehicle Performance and Fuel Economy Improvements
Note
Data are sales-weighted.
Source
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2014 Vehicle Technologies Market Report, ORNL/TM-2015/85, March 2015.