A 40-MPG SUV? It's Possible

"To get a sense of the auto industry’s progress in fuel efficiency, look no further than the 2002 Chevy Blazer. The model with automatic transmission, six cylinders, and four-wheel drive gets 18 miles per gallon (mpg), two miles less than a comparably equipped Blazer did in 1985. Indeed, in those 17 years the average fuel economy of the entire fleet of U.S. cars and light trucks declined from 26 mpg to 24 mpg—in part because of the rising proportion of gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles (SUVs)... It’s not that automotive technologies haven’t improved; it’s that the improvements have been geared toward delivering power, not efficiency...But is it really too difficult to build a reasonably priced SUV that can get 40 mpg and still provide the performance, comfort, and reduced emissions consumers expect?"