**Jihu Zheng, Rujie Yu \*, Yong Liu, Yuhong Zou and Dongchang Zhao**

Automotive Data Center, China Automotive Technology and Research Center, Tianjin 300300, China; zhengjihu@catarc.ac.cn (J.Z.); liuyong@catarc.ac.cn (Y.L.); zouyuhong@catarc.ac.cn (Y.Z.); zhaodongchang@catarc.ac.cn (D.Z.)

**\*** Correspondence: yurujie@catarc.ac.cn

Received: 27 May 2019; Accepted: 19 June 2019; Published: 21 June 2019

**Abstract:** China has set stringent fuel consumption rate (FCR) targets to address the serious environmental and energy security problems caused by vehicles. Estimating the technological progress and tradeoffs between FCR and vehicle attributes is important for assessing the viability of meeting future targets. In this paper, we explored the relationship between vehicle FCR and other attributes using a regression model with data from 2009–2016. We also quantified the difference in the tradeoff between local and joint venture brands. The result showed that from 2009 to 2016, if power and curb mass were held constant, 2.3% and 2.9% annual technological progress should have been achieved for local and joint venture brands, respectively. The effectiveness of fuel-efficient technologies for joint venture brands is generally better than that of local brands. Impacts of other attributes on FCR were also assessed. The joint venture brands made more technological progress with FCR improvement than that of local brands. Even if 100% of technological progress (assume the technological progress in the future were the same as that of 2009–2016) investment were used to improve actual FCR after 2016, it would be difficult to meet 2020 target. Accelerating the adoption of fuel-efficient technologies, and controlling weight and performance, are both needed to achieve the 2020 and 2025 targets.

**Keywords:** fuel consumption; trade-off; technological progress; passenger vehicle
