Car manufacturers with the highest overall fuel economy in 2023

In the 1950s, Californian researcher Arie Haagen-Smit established the link between automobile emissions and smoggy skies over Los Angeles. Since then, Congress has empowered the EPA—established by President Richard Nixon in 1970—to regulate emissions from automobiles and other moving sources of emissions through approaches such as incentivizing manufacturers to improve engine designs and develop fuels of higher quality.

The push toward more fuel-efficient vehicles began with the oil crisis of 1973 when the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries imposed an embargo on the U.S. and many of its allies for their support of Israel. Until the embargo, fuel efficiency was not a key selling point for automobile buyers: In the '70s, most vehicles boasted just 12 miles to the gallon.

In 1975, Congress passed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, putting into place the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards that called for new passenger vehicles to have a fuel economy of 27.5 mpg by 1985. The CAFE standards and regulatory policymaking by the EPA contributed to the rise in fuel efficiency through the '70s. From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, demand for SUVs gained momentum. With bigger vehicles came higher fuel consumption and lower fuel economy. In 2007, Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act, raising the target efficiency for new vehicles to 35 mpg by 2020.

Growing environmental concerns and local, federal, and state governments' incentives have motivated consumers to gradually shift to electric vehicles, which have contributed to massive efficiency gains in recent years. Electric cars have higher fuel efficiency than their gas-powered counterparts, at 60-73% efficiency.

Keep reading to see which car manufacturers had the highest overall fuel economy in 2023, ranked in ascending order to the #1 fuel economy.

- Real-world fuel economy: 22 miles per gallon
-- 19 city mpg
-- 24.9 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 397 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 22.2 miles per gallon
-- 19.6 city mpg
-- 24.8 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 399.3 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 23.1 miles per gallon
-- 20.5 city mpg
-- 25.4 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 376.4 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 27.4 miles per gallon
-- 23.9 city mpg
-- 30.9 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 310.4 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 27.5 miles per gallon
-- 24.2 city mpg
-- 30.6 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 322.9 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 27.8 miles per gallon
-- 24.3 city mpg
-- 31.3 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 314.2 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 28 miles per gallon
-- 24.2 city mpg
-- 31.7 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 297.6 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 28 miles per gallon
-- 24.7 city mpg
-- 31.1 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 315.6 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 28.2 miles per gallon
-- 25.6 city mpg
-- 30.5 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 313.8 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 28.7 miles per gallon
-- 25.8 city mpg
-- 31.4 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 309.6 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 28.9 miles per gallon
-- 25.3 city mpg
-- 32.4 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 291.9 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 29.1 miles per gallon
-- 26 city mpg
-- 32 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 299.6 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 29.7 miles per gallon
-- 26.5 city mpg
-- 32.7 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 293.3 grams per mile

- Real-world fuel economy: 120.7 miles per gallon
-- 126.7 city mpg
-- 116.5 highway mpg
- Real-world CO2 emissions: 0 grams per mile

Story editing by Nicole Caldwell. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. Photo selection by Clarese Moller.