Autoblog Green reports triumphantly
Spike in small-car sales ups average fuel economy to 22.7 mpg in first quarter of 2011:
Yet it only shows how badly the US is doing in availability and market acceptance of fuel efficient cars.
22.7 mpg is a staggering 10.36 L/100 km on average.
For gasoline, that corresponds to a CO2 output of 247.8 gram/km.
For comparison, in Portugal the CO2 output of new cars sold in 2010 was 127.4 gram/km (#1 of 21 EU countries) , 130.8 in France (#2), and 133.9 in Belgium (#6).
If we translate the Belgian average (mostly diesel cars) to mpg, we're talking about 46.1 mpg !
PaleMelanesian once computed that new-EPA is 85% of the less realistic NEDC.
Accounting for that, those 46.1 mpg would become a more realistic 39.2 mpg.
Still a whopping 73 % better than the US average mpg !