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Readers, just reminding you that in 2016, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy of an automaker’s vehicle fleet of “cars” is supposed to be 36 miles per gallon (that was what I initially thought, but Wiki says it is FORTY ONE!). Question, how many cars on retailer floors even have this as part of their sticker? Now, you know quite well the shenanigans with the CAFE standards (automakers get to classify what is a “car” and the “average” is not exactly what you think of as an average.

Do readers know offhand what the actual average fuel economy is of new cars sold in 2016? Hypothesis: not even close to 41. No need to go into why CAFE is a bad economic policy for the moment, I just think it is worth reminding people about what your politicians and enlightened regulators were demanding and promising back in 2008. It would be nice if someone set up an “accountability” market to track these things. My bet is that such a market would be deemed illegal. And in any case, relying on an accountability market for the purposes of providing information, is, like, soooo, Eco 101 stuff, and of course, let’s not be fooled into taking that nonsense too seriously.

One Response to “Would You Like to Meet Me at the CAFE?”

  1. sherlock says:

    I’m sure they also figured into the calculations that people would drive their cars MORE now that the marginal costs of doing so are lowered…

    Also, purely anecdotal, but in the non-car geek world, isn’t “What kind of mileage does your car get?” like a top 3 question asked? Usually preceded by, “What kind of car is it?”

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