Toyota, Chery among brands unable to meet fuel economy claims in real-world testing

The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) has put more new models under the microscope as part of its Real-World Testing Program, including vehicles it has tested before, and found many of them can’t match their fuel economy claims.

It tested new or updated versions of the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, MG HS and Toyota Camry, and found they had larger gaps between their laboratory-based fuel economy claims and results from real-world testing, though the BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC improved since the last time they were tested.

The Camry also had the second largest disparity between its official claim and the real-world testing result, at 20 per cent (4.8L/100km vs 4.0L/100km). The mid-size sedan also emitted more CO2 than advertised (112g/km vs 91g/km).

Only the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro small SUV had a wider gap in fuel consumption figures, at 21 per cent (8.8L/100km vs 7.3L/100km). It also emitted 203g/km of CO2, against a lab result claim of 166g/km.

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Other models tested managed to match their fuel consumption claims (the Mercedes-Benz GLA) or even best them (the BMW X5, which had 15 per cent better fuel economy and 15 per cent lower CO2 emissions).

In 2022, the federal government allocated $14 million to the AAA – the peak body for Australia’s state-based motoring clubs, such as the NRMA, RACV and RACQ – to conduct real-world testing of 200 vehicles previously only tested under lab conditions.

In addition to testing the fuel economy claims of petrol, diesel and hybrid models, it has also recently announced its first tests of electric vehicle (EV) range claims.

“Real-world testing is an important tool to help consumers and fleet buyers save money by identifying which cars perform as advertised and which fall short,” said AAA managing director Michael Bradley.