A recent survey to better understand American attitudes towards fuel economy, particularly among prospective vehicle buyers (those who intend to purchase or lease a vehicle within the next two years) found: 

• Room for improvement: Prospective buyers who currently have a vehicle most commonly selected fuel economy as one of the attributes of their vehicle that has the most room for improvement (42%); the next-highest selections were purchase price (25%) and maintenance costs (25%).
• Importance of fuel economy to vehicle selection: 64% of Americans who are planning to buy or lease a vehicle within the next two years say that fuel economy is ‘extremely important’ or ‘very important’ to them when considering what vehicle to get next. Only 6% say it is ‘not very important’ or ‘not important at all.’
• Key expectations for automakers: More than 7 in 10 Americans ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ that:
  • automakers should continue to improve fuel economy for all vehicle types;
  • automakers have a responsibility to consumers to improve gas mileage; and
  • each new generation of vehicles available on the market is expected to be more fuel-efficient than the last.