Hyundai to Report CAFE Figures

CAFE, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy that has become a scarecrow for auto makers several decades ago, has slowly turned into a precisely tuned advertising and sales weapon. Aware of the fact that the American consumer actually takes into account the fuel economy rating of a vehicle and that the US policy makers are determined to make CAFE work, manufacturers are currently doing their best to meet the figures imposed by the regulation (yes, this is what EVs have actually been created for).

Hyundai, planning to stay one step ahead of its competitors, plans to start reporting, voluntarily, sales-weighted CAFE results in an attempt, it says, “to provide journalists, policy-makers and consumers with additional data.”

The South Koreans, knowing more about CAFE than the American car makers, apparently, say that the current CAFE reports are basically useless, because they cover outdated results (e.g, the report released in November 2010 covers the 2009 model year).

“In 2008, Hyundai had committed to achieve a CAFE level of at least 35 mpg by 2015. Since then, we’ve redoubled our efforts to introduce affordable, fuel-efficient technology across our lineup, and now we can confidently project achieving a 35 mpg average several years early,” said John Krafcik, Hyundai Motor Americad CEO.

“With 2025 CAFE targets being discussed in the 47-to-62 mpg range, Hyundai’s fuel economy and sales achievements across a wide range of vehicle segments may provide some confidence to policy-makers that this industry can achieve remarkable fuel efficiency gains without compromising vehicle sales, appeal, value, or customer satisfaction.”

And to show that it does mean business, Hyundai released its first results, covering the month of January 2011: all models averaged 34.7 mpg, Hyundai cars 36.4 mpg and Hyundai trucks 29.8 mpg.