Washington D.C. – Automakers spent an estimated 90 million dollars on Super Bowl ads, one of the most watched shows in the history of television. Now that gas prices are at historical lows, are the car companies going back to promoting their gas guzzlers? The good news is that the majority of vehicles shown in the Super Bowl ads are CAFE compliant, according to the Consumer Federation of America (CFA). The bad news is that a few penalty flags were flying as automakers promoted cars that fail to deliver fuel economy savings to consumers.
Looking at the 10 manufacturers advertising during the Super Bowl, 9 either specifically promoted or alluded to current model vehicles. [1] America’s CAFE standards which are set to rise to 54.5 mpg by 2025 are designed to enable the manufacturers to gradually increase vehicle fuel efficiency across each of their vehicle classes. Looking at the car makers’ vehicle choices for their Super Bowl ads, CFA found that the majority of models featured are CAFE compliant for 2016.
The Super Bowl fuel economy winners were the Ford F-150, Hyundai Elantra, Kia Optima, Mazda MX-5, Mini Clubman, Subaru Impreza, and Toyota Prius with all, or some of their mentioned trim lines CAFE compliant.[2] Receiving Super Bowl CAFE penalty flags were the Buick Cascada, Hyundai Genesis and Jeep Wrangler, with none of their advertised vehicles being CAFE compliant.
“There were some fuel economy MVPs on TV during the big game, but automakers still spent millions of dollars promoting vehicles that are off sides when it comes to fuel economy standards,” said Jack Gillis, CFA’s Director of Public Affairs and author of The Car Book.
CFA also analyzed the overall best and worst among the 10 specific models promoted on the Super Bowl and assigned them to the winning and losing teams.[3]
For the past 12 months, the overall fleet average mpg was 25.3 mpg.[4] Six of the nine Super Bowl vehicles beat the average while four fell short. So joining the Broncos as this year’s Super Bowl car ad champions for fuel efficiency were the Toyota Prius, Kia Optima and Mazda MX-5. On the losing side, Jeep Wrangler[5], Ford F-150 and Buick Cascada were the most fuel inefficient models in the Super Bowl ads. Although below the fleet average, the Ford F-150 does have models which are CAFE compliant due to its larger footprint.
Only the Toyota Prius ads emphasized the car’s fuel economy, jokingly demonstrating that the car could go on a very long police chase. Ford emphasized fuel efficient technology citing stronger, lighter weight materials used in its F-150 as “military grade aluminum.”
In CFA’s national surveys, consumers regularly express concerns about future gasoline prices. “Consumers understand that the best offense is a good defense, so the only way to avoid being blindsided by a gasoline price blitz is to buy more fuel efficient vehicles,” said Gillis.
“When it comes to protecting consumers and our economy from volatile gasoline prices, fuel economy is our best defense,” said Dr. Mark Cooper, CFA’s Director of Research. “Gasoline is still a necessity of daily life and a very large household budget item. Even at $2.00 a gallon, the average household spends about $1,500 a year on gasoline, which is about as much as electricity, telephone service and household equipment and furnishings,” said Cooper.[6] “Even at today’s lower gas prices, spending more for fuel efficient vehicles is a good investment – the savings on fuel exceeds the cost of the technology over the life of the vehicle,” said Cooper. Based on our economic analysis of the current fuel economy standards, it costs a new car buyer about $1.30 to save a gallon of gas, making this a very attractive investment for the typical consumer.”[7] And at today’s prices of $1.30 per gallon is like knocking 70 cents off a gallon of gas.
Consumers buying (and manufacturers selling) for fuel efficiency is a critically important factor for both consumers’ pocketbooks and manufacturer’s financial viability CFA. Buying a fuel inefficient vehicle during times of low gas prices can subject household finances to a huge burden in one to two years if gas prices rise. In addition, who can forget the need to bail out the car companies when they were stuck with millions of unsold gas guzzlers when the price of gas went up?
“Car advertising absolutely impacts and influences the choices consumers make. Unfortunately, the gap between the least and most efficient cars featured during the big game was huge,” said Gillis.
CFA is an association of more than 250 nonprofit consumer groups that was founded in 1968 to advance the consumer interest through research, advocacy and education.
[1] Of the 15 ads, 11 manufacturers were represented. Of those 11, 10 mentioned or alluded to specific models. The Audi R8, Nissan NSX and Honda Ridgeline are not currently available. In one ad Jeep traced the history of Jeep with no particular model mentioned.
[2] A manufacturer’s model may have a number of variations, called trim lines. Each trim line can have a different fuel efficiency rating. We looked at whether or not at least one of their trim lines was CAFE compliant.
[3] This list indicates the most fuel efficient offering among the model trim lines.
[4] This according to research conducted by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. For a variety of reports on the fuel efficiency of vehicles and other factors affecting the automobile, see www.umtri.umich.edu
[5] This appeared to be the most present vehicle in one of the Jeep ads.
[6] Based on 2014 Consumer Expenditure Survey (Bureau of Labor Statistics) and annual gasoline prices (Energy Information Administration), and assuming no increase in consumption.
[7] Consumer Federation of America, et al., 2012, Comments on the Proposed Rule 2017 and Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards, Docket Nos. EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0799; FRL-9495-2, NHTSA–2010–0131, 2/13/12, Exhibit V-7 and accompanying text.