Gas prices may have peaked back in May, but the market in the United States is still far from settled in 2026. Weekly averages have swung between $3.77 and $4.31 per gallon across the summer, with the average price as of September 7th standing at $4.16.
With prices still in a state of flux, fuel economy remains a key factor in how customers choose their next vehicle, as well as the decisions OEMs and dealerships are making as a result. To see this in action, we compared two of the best-selling models in the large SUV segment, the Ford Explorer and the Toyota Grand Highlander.
Ford’s Explorer is currently the best-selling large SUV in the US. It has been a mainstay in the segment for decades and is often the benchmark model against which rivals measure themselves. The Toyota Grand Highlander is a newer arrival by comparison, having launched in June 2023, yet it has already climbed to become the fourth best-selling large SUV in the market. It has also taken over from Toyota’s own Highlander, which is set to become an all-BEV model for the 2027 model year.
Much of the Grand Highlander’s success comes down to its HEV engine offering. The hybrid is the preferred powertrain for the model, taking a 57% share in 2025 and rising to 59% of sales in H1 2026 – a trend that looks set to continue.
The shift towards hybrid brings the Grand Highlander’s average fuel economy for the first half of the year to around 28 mpg. The model’s ICE engine performs in line with the Explorer and other top sellers such as the Grand Cherokee and Chevrolet Traverse, all sitting around 23 mpg, while the average HEV variant reaches around 32 mpg.
Improved fuel economy was already a benefit to customers when the national average for regular gasoline sat around $3.00 a gallon. With prices now around $4.00, this advantage only grows.
In our previous article, we compared two versions of the same model where the only real difference was the powertrain, providing a straightforward analysis of the incentives and fuel costs. However, comparing a vehicle to its competitors is rarely that simple.
To compare vehicles fairly, OEMs assign discrete values to the features that could be equipped on a vehicle, known as value sets, distilling the different equipment offerings down into a single number to understand which vehicle is ultimately the better deal.
As a simple, hypothetical example, imagine that two competitors have similar vehicles (Model A and Model B). Model A carries a sticker price $2,000 higher than Model B, however Model A includes premium seating and audio features that Model B doesn’t. In this case, Model A’s planning team might be more than happy with this price difference because they value their equipment advantage at $2,500.
For this article, we built a value set to compare the Grand Highlander against the Explorer. The set was applied across all versions in the 2026 model year and aggregated by sales for the first half of this year. On sticker price alone, the average Explorer sells for around $1,600 less than the average Grand Highlander. Once the value set is applied, the Explorer’s slightly higher level of standard equipment widens that lead to around $3,000. However, there is a catch.
That value set does not yet account for fuel economy, and this is where the Grand Highlander starts to close the gap. In the same way an OEM will assign a value to features such as advanced cruise control, a sunroof or branded speakers, they will also assign a value to fuel economy. The value can be tied directly to fuel prices or set more abstractly, but for this article we have assessed the current cost of fuel in the four best-selling vehicle markets and applied it over 72,000 miles. While companies will typically settle on a single national figure for product planning, breaking the analysis down by state gives a clearer picture of where the two vehicles actually sit from a customer or dealership perspective.
For a state like California, the fuel costs completely flip the script, making the Grand Highlander a “better deal” by just over $500. And while the flip doesn’t happen in the next three best-selling states (Texas, Florida, or New York), the fuel savings significantly improve the Grand Highlander’s position.
Value set analysis is critical for product planners introducing new models and trim lines, but it is also the starting point for other parts of the process. For example, incentives teams can use this type of analysis to help judge how much incentive support is needed to hit their targets.
Meanwhile, dealerships benefit from similar tools, such as advantage and disadvantage reports, to understand how best to market to individual customer needs. For example, a Toyota dealer can find wins by advertising to heavy drivers and customers looking to purchase and drive a vehicle till it dies, while California Ford dealers will be able to find customers that have shorter commutes and/or are just looking to lease a vehicle.
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