April 21, 2011 – HYUNDAI IS MPG CHAMP: What is the biggest news coming out of the New York Auto show this week? Hyundai says it has already achieved the 2016 requirement of 35.5 MPG for its fleet through March of this year.
The New York Auto Show opens to the public tomorrow and the clear focus of the show is fuel economy, with gas prices continuing to go up and new federal fuel economy regulations going into affect for the 2012 model year.
Automakers are all talking up the mileage expectations for their vehicles above other features. Helping get Hyundai to that 35.5 MPG requirement is the new 2012 Accent, which gets 40 MPG highway and is the fourth Hyundai model to reach that goal.
Others, like the 2012 Chevy Cruze and its Eco package, get close to that 40 MPG standard but are not there yet.
It looks like other automakers need to take a cue from Hyundai … Did you know the 1986 Chevy Sprint got 48 MPG? And the 1990 Geo Metro got 47 MPG? And there was an electric car 1911 that was advertised to go 80 miles between charges and one test vehicle that went 211 miles per charge?
The changes in fuel economy in the U.S. over the past 100 years are very enlightening … 40MPG.Org