TrueMPG Increases in May According to TrueCar.com

SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- TrueCar.com, the authority on new car pricing, trends and forecasting, today provided actual fuel economy numbers from May light vehicle auto sales that TrueMPG™ will increase to 21.9. MPG in May 2011 compared to 21.6 MPG in May 2010 but decreases from April 2011 at 22.2 MPG.

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"As gas prices declined in May, we observed consumer preferences changing in favor of relatively larger vehicles, indicating once again that a majority of small car purchases are either need-based or extremely dependent on sustained levels of high gas prices," said Jesse Toprak, Vice President of Industry Trends and Insights at TrueCar.com. "Last month, we saw Honda and Hyundai have the largest drop in average MPG per vehicle sold from April as consumers shifted away from smaller vehicles to larger vehicles such as midsize cars and SUVs."

Below is how the top seven manufacturers fared comparing overall MPG and broken out by car and truck MPG:

According to TrueCar.com, the TrueMPG™ for vehicles sold by U.S. manufacturers averaged 20.7 MPG in May 2011, up from 20.6 MPG in May 2010. European manufacturers decreased their average fuel economy for vehicles sold from 22.0 MPG to 21.6 MPG; Japanese manufacturers decreased their average fuel economy from last year at 24.7 MPG to 23.3 MPG; and South Korean manufacturers decreased their average fuel economy for vehicles from 25.6 MPG to 25.5 MPG.

Below is a snapshot of a few vehicle segments and how they compare from May 2011 versus May 2010:

TrueMPG™ is an easy-to-understand and objective way to comprehend monthly fuel economy averages by brand, manufacturer, origin and vehicle segments using Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ratings based on estimated and/or actual monthly automotive sales-weighted data.  TrueCar.com is seeking to provide transparency and truth in average fuel economy, providing an alternative view to Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) ratings that can be confusing and misleading.  TrueMPG™ helps keep in perspective what each manufacturer's average miles per gallon per car sold using EPA's window sticker.

TrueMPG™ computes monthly average fuel economy by brand, manufacturer, origin and vehicle segments by using actual sales data or forecasted sales data for the current month. Calculations start at the trim level, taking into account EPA fuel economy data including engine size and drivetrain that affect a vehicle's MPG ratings; the sales share from each trim level is then calculated to create an average for each model.  Brand level data is calculated by the sales share of each model and the manufacturer data is then based on the share of each brand, providing an accurate and completely data driven picture of actual measured MPGs in the market place. TrueCar utilizes EPA's average fuel economy rating using 45 percent highway and 55 percent city driving behavior.

For additional data on TrueMPG by brand, manufacturer, origin and vehicle segment, please visit the TrueCar Truth Blog. Final April data will be released on TrueCar.com's TrueTrends report.

About TrueCar, Inc.

TrueCar, Inc. is an automotive solutions provider focused on changing how cars are sold by providing a significantly better customer experience while helping qualified dealer partners to gain incremental market share and reduce costs.  TrueCar.com is a transparent, visual publisher of new car transaction data.  TrueCar.com price reports help both dealers and consumers to agree on the parameters of a fair deal by providing an accurate, comprehensive and simple understanding of what others actually paid for the identically equipped new car over the last 30 days both locally and nationally.  TrueCar, Inc. works with a national network of nearly 5,000 Certified Dealers that provide up-front, no-haggle, competitive pricing to assist some of the nation's largest and most well respected membership and service organizations to meet the auto buying needs of their members and customers.  These partnerships include American Express, AAA, USAA and more than 60 others.  Collectively these audiences represent over 1M in-market customers each month.  TrueCar, Inc. is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA and has offices in San Francisco.  The company was founded in 2005 and has been profitable since 2009.  With nearly 200 percent year-over-year growth TrueCar has driven over 250,000 sales and is developing a suite of transaction oriented products and services centered on transparency and radical clarity as a result of comprehensively analyzing market data and information.

You can follow TrueCar on Twitter and become a fan of TrueCar on Facebook. 

About TrueCar Data

TrueCar obtains data directly from numerous sources including automotive dealers, technology companies, data aggregators, and analytics companies within the automotive space.   We also acquire vehicle configuration data, customer and dealer incentives data, financing and loan data, vehicle registration and insurance data, and much, much more.  TrueCar is insatiable about data with our goal to find 100% of all purchase transactions, even if that means finding the same transaction multiple times from multiple sources within the car-buying ecosystem.  Our data is among the most timely and comprehensive in the industry, as we are able to process most car sales within a week of the actual sales date, and have a substantial fraction on the site within 48 hours of the actual sale.  TrueCar believes the greater our informational accuracy, the greater benefit we provide to both dealers and consumers.

Disclaimer

This press release and the information contained herein is for noncommercial use on "as-is, as available" basis and may be used for informational purposes only.  TrueCar makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information contained in this press release and the results of the use of such information, including but not limited to implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.  The information contained in this press release may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors.  Neither TrueCar nor any of its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates or respective partners, officers, or directors, employees or agents shall be held liable for any damages, whether direct, incidental, indirect, special or consequential, including without limitation lost revenues or lost profits, arising from or in connection with your use or reliance on the information presented in this press release.

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Jesse Toprak

https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=94534

SOURCE TrueCar.com