One thing we know, the effect of newer high mileage cars is small because the AVERAGE car on the road now in the US is 10.8 years old, an all time high.
I’ve been watching the fuel consumption stats with great interest since Tim Wallace started sending in charts to Shedlock a couple months ago.
If this means what I think it does, Baraq is a guaranteed loser come Nov 2012.
The big gains in fuel efficiency are behind us. Used to be a typical car averaged say 12 mpg combined highway/local driving. Then it jumped to 18-22 mpg. Now the automakers are using every kind of expensive gimmick as well as drastic weight reductions to squeeze a few marginal mpgs more to meet congressional mandated fleet mileage figures.
In addition, many of these little sedans can transport more that 2 adults and 2 children making the car of low utility except for basic work commutes.