▲ The average horsepower of new cars in the United States in 2021 hit a new high, exceeding 250 for the first time.
I believe that people who have seen the movie "Fast and Furious" series have a deep memory of many of the "American muscle cars" with large displacement and high horsepower in the play, and even have the stereotype of "Americans love muscle cars", and this situation seems to be playing out, because the US National Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released an annual report on automobile trends, and Nevin pointed out that "in 2021, the average horsepower of licensed new cars in the United States hit a record high, reaching 252.2 horses", which also confirmed how fanatical the US market is for high horsepower.
▲ 1970 Dodge Charger is the car of Donald in the movie "Fast and Furious".
With the release of this report, compared with the sales volume of the US car market in 2021, it is not difficult to find why the average horsepower hit a new high last year, in fact, it is because Americans are keen on "pickup trucks", and pickup trucks are usually equipped with large-displacement and horsepower engines, and the average horsepower is 290.6 horses in terms of the top 3 sales of the "Ford F Series", "Ram Series Pickup Trucks" and "Chevrolet Silverado" entry-level models, and the average horsepower of the top standard is as high as 532 horses; In addition, SUVs and off-road vehicles are also hot-selling evergreens, most of which are equipped with 2.0-liter turbo engines or better-performing engines, and the output power easily exceeds 200 horses, becoming one of the boosts for horsepower to set a new high.
▲ The Ford F-150 is the number one sales model in the United States in 2021, and the entry-level model is equipped with a 3.3-liter naturally ined V6 engine that can output 290 horsepower.
▲ Ram pickup truck is the second best selling car in the U.S. market, the lowest-end 1500 classic model is equipped with a 3.6-liter V6 engine, and the maximum horsepower is 305 horses.
The Chevrolet Silverado uses a 3.0-liter turbo diesel engine with 277 horsepower, making it the smallest of the three vehicles with the lowest displacement and horsepower.
In addition, the EPA also said that "fuel consumption" and "weight" hit new highs; Before 2004, under the leadership of technological innovation and market orientation, the performance and weight of automobiles increased year by year, in exchange for poor fuel consumption, which greatly increased carbon emissions, but since 2004, the car factories have refined the combustion efficiency of internal combustion engines and added oil and electricity systems, so that the average fuel consumption has improved by 32%, horsepower has increased by 17%, and weight has increased by 1%, and it is expected that it will continue to grow in the future until the next technological innovation.
Horsepower and weight have grown year by year, while fuel consumption has been declining since it peaked in 1985 until 2004.
Since 1975, engine performance has grown from 4.8 liters to 137.3 horses to 2.9 liters and 252.2 horses, although this year's exhaust volume is not the lowest point, but this year it still remains below 3.0 liters, and horsepower has reached an all-time high, which also represents the growth of technology year by year. Finally, the EPA concluded, saying that "between 1975 and 2021, horsepower increased by 84% and displacement decreased by about 40%, all thanks to technological progress and rising environmental awareness, so fruitful results."
▲ In 1980, the exhaust volume began to drop below 4.0 liters for the first time, and the first time it fell below 3.0 liters occurred in 1986 and stabilized after 2013.