Not to be confused with a café, Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) is the average miles per gallon of automakers’ passenger cars and light trucks; sorry, java heads.
CAFE numbers are calculated annually by the Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and are a way for the government to monitor and regulate gas mileage ratings. It’s a complicated procedure that doesn’t factor the simple average efficiency of all the vehicles lumped together, there are other factors like total sales and alternative fuel capability. That’s why Cars.com recently broke down the method for determining CAFE numbers, then ranked each manufacturer’s CAFE figure.
The current CAFE standard requires automakers to meet a 27.5 mpg average across the lineup for its passenger cars and 22.2 mpg for light trucks.
For more information, see our article on CAFE, which also includes the most recent list of automakers’ CAFE ratings.
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