For the auto industry, the future is small.

Automakers have committed themselves to producing smaller, more fuel-efficient cars as gasoline prices remain high. Detroit's Big Three may receive as much as $25 billion in federal loans to help them meet new fuel-efficiency standards.

But the latest CNBC/Portfolio Wealth in America survey found that only 12 percent of Americans were "very likely" to buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle than their current one over the next 12 months. Ten percent said they were "somewhat likely" to do so. And 57 percent said that they were "very unlikely to do so."
 
"It's surprising, certainly, considering what we've seen all year, especially in the summer," said Itay Michaeli, senior auto analyst with Citigroup. "When gas prices spiked, the small-car segment literally skyrocketed."
            
Compact vehicles with light petrol-appetites have been a lone bright spot for many automakers over the past several months. Consider Toyota, which in August reported an overall sales drop of 9.4 percent—but a 20 percent increase in sales of the Yaris. Or Ford Motor, which had a 3.6 percent drop in sales, but a 23 percent sales boom for the Focus that month.
            
The uncertainty in the economy may be causing consumers to defer buying a new vehicle. And the "fuel efficient" label has some unpopular associations.

More important, the recent retreat in crude oil prices may lull consumers back into their old ways, Michaeli says.

"Historically, the consumer has done a good job of adjusting to gas prices," he says. "But the recent surge, at the rate at which it surged, just left people wondering how much longer it could go on. When it finally came back down, we saw a rebound—we have, in the past month, seen some improvement in pickups and S.U.V.'s. I think the drop in oil prices has a psychological effect."
            
Ed LaRocque, Toyota's national car marketing manager, says he has not seen any change in customers' mindsets. "We've seen within the last three to six months a fundamental shift in mainstream customers' attitudes—they really are much more focused on fuel-efficient vehicles," says LaRocque. "Even if gas prices come down a little bit, we're going to see that continuing. We're continuing to see very strong demand for the Yaris, the Matrix, the Prius."
            
Of course, the popularity of those vehicles isn't necessarily good for fuel efficiency's overall image—and that may be part of what's keeping that 57 percent from taking a closer look at fuel-efficient cars.

"When you talk to consumers, and you say 'hybrid,' they think 'Prius,'" says Jessica Caldwell, an analyst with Edmunds.com. "They think, 'I don't want to buy a subcompact car.' Fuel efficiency is not necessarily always linked with size—there needs to be more selection. Americans like to have choices, and right now, they don't."
            
Michaeli echoes her sentiments. "We don't have a sizable mix of turbochargers, diesels and hybrids," he says. "The U.S. is really a bit of an infant when it comes to advanced technology."
            
And some consumers, too, have yet to really discover it.

"Many people today still aren't aware of hybrid technology," LaRocque of Toyota acknowledges. "A lot of folks still think you have to plug a hybrid in."