Honda and Toyota offered car owners the highest average fuel efficiency of the 2007 model year vehicles, the US government reported.
The average fuel economy for this year's vehicles in the US was 20.2 miles per gallon (8.6km/liter), the same as last year's vehicles, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Wednesday in an annual report that used new testing procedures.
For individual vehicles, the test results are included on window stickers in dealer lots. The agency said the overall results marked an increase compared with 2004 vehicles, which averaged 19.3mpg (8.2km/liter).
Honda Motor Co had the highest fuel economy of any manufacturer with 22.9mpg (9.7km/liter), a slight decrease compared with its lineup last year.
Toyota Motor Corp posted a 22.8mpg (also 9.7km/liter) average for its vehicles this year compared with 22.4mpg (9.5km/liter) the previous year. Toyota's average was helped by the gas-electric Prius hybrid, which had the highest combined fuel economy of any passenger car with 46.2mpg (19.6km/liter).
South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co, which includes Kia vehicles, improved to 22.7mpg (22.7km/liter) for this year's vehicles, followed by Volkswagen AG with 21.4mpg (9.1km/liter).
Nissan Motor Co showed the largest gain of any automaker during the past year, improving 0.6 mpg (0.3km/liter) to 20.6mpg (8.8km/liter).
General Motors Corp led US automakers with 19.4mpg (8.2 km/liter), followed by Ford Motor Co with 18.7mpg (8.0km/liter).
For the third straight year, Ford's Escape hybrid had the highest fuel efficiency of any light truck with 29.7mpg (12.6 km/liter).
DaimlerChrysler AG, which recently completed the sale of a controlling stake in Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, was the lowest rated with 18.3mpg (7.8 km/liter), which has not changed in the past three years.
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