A new study finds that the average fuel economy of new cars purchased in the United States rose to a record high in May.
The average efficiency rating of cars, light trucks, vans and SUVs climbed to 25.6 mpg last month, according to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. That figure represents an improvement of 0.4 mpg over April and is 0.2 mpg better than the previous record, which was set back in March.
“This increase likely reflects the continuing high price of gasoline,” researcher Michael Sivak said in a statement.
Since October 2007, the month when the institute began monitoring mileage data, the average has increased by 5.5 mpg.
The institute also found that the average monthly emissions of greenhouse gasses generated by each driver in the U.S. in March, the most recent month for which data is available, dipped 22 percent from October 2007.
Photos by Mark Elias.
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