Okay, Now America's Dislike of Cars is Starting to Show

The post-recession era was an interesting one. As automakers struggled to cram every last piece of fuel-saving technology into their vehicles, gas prices shot up and grimly stayed put. Engine displacements small enough to inspire locker room bullying were suddenly the mainstream.

Naturally, both corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) and sales-weighted fuel economy shot up like U.S. jobs numbers.

America’s rapidly growing lust for light trucks, crossovers and SUVs has been well documented, but until now, the trend has only served to flatline the average gas mileage of the country’s new vehicles. Well, the trend could only go so far before reaching a tipping point.

According to the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute, the truck-hungry month of October saw sales-weighted average fuel economy drop by 0.4 miles per gallon — the steepest drop since the oil price crash of late 2014. That puts the average fuel economy at 24.8 mpg, a full 1 mpg lower than the post-recession peak of August 2014.

Put another way, the last time collective gas mileage was this low was in July of 2013.

Of course, the landscape has changed since that long-ago time. Back then, trucks, SUVs and crossovers were only popular. Tried-and-true passenger cars made up the majority of new vehicle market share.

According to TTAC sales guru Tim Cain, passenger cars only made up 40 percent of new vehicle sales volume during the first 10 months of this year. In October? A mere 37 percent. Compare that to 2015’s YTD figure of 44 percent. So yes, 63 percent of new vehicles sold in the U.S. last month were some form of light truck, van, SUV or crossover.

In Canada, which the University of Michigan isn’t concerned with, that number was actually 66 percent. Traversing the barren wastes that lie outside the boundaries of Toronto requires a vehicle with rugged capability, it seems.

Expect fuel economy figures to change soon, but not because of any sudden advance in technology. The Environmental Protection Agency has changed the methodology behind its gas mileage ratings, with the new numbers appearing on 2017 model year vehicles. Supposedly, this should result in a more accurate estimate of a vehicle’s fuel economy.

Those figures will be retroactively added to historical fuel economy charts starting next month, the Transportation Research Institute claims.

[Images: General Motors; University of Michigan]