Most Popular Cars Fall Short of Fuel Economy Standard

According to new requirements by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), all car models manufactured in 2026 will need to guarantee a range of 40 miles on one gallon. This marks a sharp increase compared to today's standards established under former President Donald Trump, which mandated a fuel efficiency of 24 miles per gallon for 2022 models. As our chart based on the average fuel efficiency of gasoline-powered models shows, four out of the eight best-selling cars in the United States in 2021 wouldn't even manage to clear this lower bar.

Two of the worst offenders, the Chevrolet Silverado range with an average of 17.5 miles per gallon across all models and the Ram 1500 line with 20 miles per gallon on average, are among the top 3 cars in terms of sales numbers in the U.S. This past year, Ram Trucks sold around 570,000 cars to United States customers, netting it second place before the Silverado product line with roughly 520,000 units sold. The most popular car range in the U.S., the Ford F-Series, shifted about 726,00 units, but only managed to place fifth in terms of fuel efficiency when compared with the seven other best-selling passenger cars. Interestingly, even the model with the best average fuel efficiency, the Honda CR-V, wouldn't be able to fulfill the requirements set by the NHTSA with an approximate range of 32 miles per gallon.

According to NHTSA officials cited by the Associated Press, the new fuel efficiency standards could reduce gasoline consumption by more than 220 billion gallons over the lifespan of vehicles.