Gm Incentive Program

GM Incentive Program

Summary: HONDA AND TOYOTA OFFERED U.S. CONSUMERS THE HIGHEST average fuel efficiency of model year vehicles, the government reported Wednesday. The average fuel economy for vehicles was . miles per gallon, the same as vehicles, the Environmental Protection Agency said in an annual report that used new testing procedures. For individual vehicles, the test results are included on window stickers in dealer lots. The agency said the overall results marked an increase com...

Automotive, GM, Honda, Toyota

Article Body: HONDA AND TOYOTA OFFERED U.S. CONSUMERS THE HIGHEST average fuel efficiency of model year vehicles, the government reported Wednesday. The average fuel economy for vehicles was . miles per gallon, the same as vehicles, the Environmental Protection Agency said in an annual report that used new testing procedures. For individual vehicles, the test results are included on window stickers in dealer lots. The agency said the overall results marked an increase compared with vehicles, which averaged . mpg.

Honda Motor Co. had the highest fuel economy of any manufacturer with . mpg, a slight decrease compared with its lineup. Toyota Motor Corp. posted a . mpg average for its vehicles compared with . mpg the previous year. Toyota's average was helped by the gas-electric Prius hybrid, which had the highest combined fuel economy of any passenger car with . mpg. South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co., which includes Kia vehicles, improved to . mpg for vehicles, followed by Volkswagen AG with . mpg. Nissan Motor Co. showed the largest gain of any automaker during the past year, improving . mpg to . mpg. General Motors Corp. led domestic automakers with . mpg, followed by Ford Motor Co. with . mpg. For the third straight year, Ford's Escape hybrid had the highest fuel efficiency of any light truck with . mpg.

DaimlerChrysler AG, which recently completed the sale of a controlling stake in Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, was the lowest rated with . mpg, a mark that has been unchanged the past three years. The figures were calculated for the first time based on test methods devised to better reflect driving habits and provide a more realistic estimate. The new tests led to a percent decrease in fuel economy averages compared to past estimates using old testing criteria, the EPA said.

Among vehicle type, passenger cars averaged . mpg in -- unchanged from . SUVs averaged . mpg, an increase of . mpg, and pickups were unchanged at . mpg. EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson said the findings were evidence that "automakers are answering

President Bush's call to improve fuel economy and decrease our nation's dependency on foreign oil." But the figures underscored complaints in Congress that the auto industry has failed to rapidly ramp up production of vehicles that can get more miles on a gallon of gas. The Senate approved legislation in June that would require automakers to build more efficient vehicles; the measure is pending in Congress.

With more consumers driving larger vehicles than a generation ago, overall fuel efficiency has made little progress. The current fleet is less efficient than the new vehicles produced in , for example, and well below the peak of mpg in .