Wheels Blog: Survey Shows Strong Support for Fuel Efficiency Standards

Bill Pugliano/Getty Images A Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid takes shape at the General Motors Detroit Hamtramck Assembly Plant in Hamtramck, Mich.

A new survey has found that consumers want more fuel efficient cars and also support the new federal fuel economy standards that the federal government plans to reach by 2025.

The survey, conducted by the Consumer Federation of America, polled 1,001 adults by telephone. The results, released on Monday, indicate strong public support for the 54.5 mile per gallon federal fuel economy standards. It also suggested strong intentions on the part of most vehicle buyers to seek improved fuel economy on their next vehicle.

According to the survey, 85 percent of respondents said they supported the 54.5 m.p.g. rule and 54 percent strongly supported it. Those results cut across political lines, according to the poll, with support from 77 percent of the Republicans surveyed, 92 percent of the Democrats and 87 percent of the independents. Eighty-eight percent of those participating in the poll said that fuel economy would be an important factor in their next car purchase, the survey said, and 59 percent said it would be a “very important” consideration.

Respondents now driving 24 m.p.g. vehicles told the federation that they expect an improvement to about 31 m.p.g. in the next vehicle they buy. And 57 percent of those who said they planned to buy an S.U.V. said they expected it to achieve at least 25 m.p.g. The federation also pointed to the increasing popularity and availability of 4-cylinder engines.

Mark Cooper, the federation’s director of research, said in a telephone interview that concern about fuel economy had increased sharply among American car buyers.

“Even 10 years ago, it was not much of an issue,” he said. “But subsequent gas price hikes got people thinking about it. The automakers needed a good framework for dealing with efficiency, and that’s why we think the federal fuel economy standards are very effective — they arrived at a time when the market was ready.”

Jack Gillis, a federation spokesman, said in a telephone interview that consumers weren’t just talking about buying the more efficient cars that are increasingly available to them; a look at the most popular vehicles shows that they’re actually buying them.

A random telephone survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, released in February, reached similar conclusions about market intent. It said that two-thirds of car buyers expected their next car or truck to provide much better or somewhat better fuel economy than their current one.