2010 Green Car of the Year finalists - three hybrids, two diesels - announced
Mercury Milan Hybrid - Click above for high-res image gallery of GCOTY finalists
Last year, Volkswagen's Jetta TDI was named the 2009 Green Car of the Year at the LA Auto Show, which means that the Volkswagen Golf TDI has a bit of baggage if it wants to try and win the 2010 award. Regardless, the Golf was named one of five finalists today, along with the Audi A3 TDI, the Honda Insight, the Mercury Milan Hybrid and the Toyota Prius. Odd that the Mercury would be chosen above the Ford Fusion hybrid, but so it goes. That makes is two diesels and three hybrids vying for top spot.
The Green Car of the Year award is given out by the Green Car Journal, which narrows the field of green cars down to five and then turns over the decision to pick a winner to "jurors such as Jay Leno, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Carroll Shelby, Matt Petersen of Global Green USA and the Sierra Club's Carl Pop." The winner will be announced in LA on December 3.
Gallery: 2010 Green Car of the Year Finalists
[Source: Green Car Journal]
PRESS RELEASE:
Five Finalists Announced for the 2010 Green Car of the Year®
Winner to be Announced During an LA Auto Show Press Conference on Dec. 3
LOS ANGELES - Oct. 7, 2009 - Green Car Journal announced today its five finalists for the 2010 Green Car of the Year®, including the Audi A3 TDI, Honda Insight, Mercury Milan Hybrid, Toyota Prius and Volkswagen Golf TDI. For the fifth consecutive year, this prestigious award will be announced during a press conference at the Los Angeles Auto Show press days, Dec. 3.
The Green Car of the Year® award is a program that honors environmental leadership in the automobile field and recognizes vehicles that are readily available to consumers during the award year. Green Car Journal editors perform an exhaustive review of vehicle models to identify the five finalists. The winner is ultimately decided by jurors such as Jay Leno, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Carroll Shelby, Matt Petersen of Global Green USA and the Sierra Club's Carl Pope, along with Green Car Journal editors.
"We're seeing the trend for 'green' cars emerging at all levels, from entry-level cars to luxury models, and even performance cars and SUVs/crossovers," said Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of the Green Car Journal and editor of GreenCar.com. "Plus, an array of technologies and fuels as well as strategies like lightweighting and reducing rolling resistance are being applied to the challenge. Greater choice provides buyers a personal stake in lessening environmental impact, and that's important."
This year's finalists reflect this diversity. For the first time an Audi makes the final five with its sporty A3 TDI clean diesel. Volkswagen's new Golf TDI shows an expanding focus on clean diesel technology in the VW lineup. The Insight is a completely new hybrid sedan for Honda and the 2010 Toyota Prius is a totally redesigned, third-generation version of this popular hybrid model. The Milan Hybrid is Mercury's application of its advanced-hybrid technology in an upscale mid-size sedan.
About Green Car of the Year®
The GCOY award is an important part of Green Car Journal's mission to showcase environmental progress in the auto industry. Since 1992, Green Car Journal has focused on the intersection of automobiles, energy, and environment, first with an industry newsletter and then with an award-winning auto enthusiast magazine. Today, the magazine is considered the premier source of information on high fuel efficiency, low emission, advanced technology, and alternative fuel vehicles. Subscription information, along with a downloadable sample issue, can be found at GCJUSA.com. Green Car of the Year® is a registered trademark of Green Car Journal and RJ Cogan Specialty Publications Group, Inc.
About the Los Angeles Auto Show
The 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show will be held on Dec. 2-3 for press and Dec. 4-13 for the public. Media registration is now open. This year, the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles (OICA), the world automobile trade association, has officially named the Los Angeles Auto Show as one of its sanctioned international exhibitions. For more information, please visit LAautoshow.com.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
wincros 1:54PM (10/07/2009)
Afraid I have to vote for potential green here. Even though the Insight fuel economy is exceeded by the Prius and the fun factor will, no doubt, be exceeded by the Golf TDI, it is financially within reach of more people and has the potential to sell more cars, if they catch on with all those Civic and Corolla buyers, than any of the others. They are all good, but whichever sells the most will be the most green.
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Dave R 2:07PM (10/07/2009)
Yep - have to say the Prius is winning the green-car sales race by a landslide. No other "green" car comes close.
Carney 3:58PM (10/07/2009)
Except that the Prius only accepts gasoline as liquid fuel. It's just as locked in to petroleum-only as its source of power as that dirty jalopy down the street.
A real shame when for just $100 per car Toyota could have added the capability for the Prius to use, where available, clean burning, renewable alcohol fuel.
nagmashot 9:20AM (10/08/2009)
@Dave R the Prius wins perhaps in the USA the green car sales but not world wide there it plays no rule vs TDI ... remember diesel holds 25% of the world wide sold cars a year, hybrid is still under 1% of the global market..
matt 2:03PM (10/07/2009)
Tesla Roadster :)
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Chris M 9:54PM (10/07/2009)
Unfortunately, that "Green Car Journal" continues to rig the qualifications to eliminate Tesla, thus once again ignoring the cleanest most efficient cars on the road. In 2007, the excuse was "well, they aren't in production yet". In 2008 the excuse was "well, they're in production, but we're only considering 2009 models that started production in 2008". But Tesla has started production of their 2009 Sport model, so I'm wondering what excuse the "green car journal" has for exclusion this year. They also studiously avoid any other EV like the Aptera 23, or any NEV.
The 2007 "green car of the year" was an embarrassing joke, and last years award was only slightly better. This year they have at least 3 serious contenders, but they're still ignoring the greenest cars on the road.
dieqast 2:12PM (10/07/2009)
My vote goes to the BYD F3DM. On basis of tech I would imminently go for Aptera, but what about a LiFePO4 series hybrid sedan for 22k?
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CG 2:49PM (10/07/2009)
Nissan LEAF - zero tailpipe emissions!
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Epyx 3:38PM (10/07/2009)
Are they at dealers already? I missed that.
CG 4:38PM (10/07/2009)
at dealers next year
downtoearth 3:23PM (10/07/2009)
A. True winners should be plug-in hybrids: Chevy Volt and Toyota Prius plug-in.
------------------------------------
B. Here is a list of EPA energy impact score: how much fossil fuel energy a given car really requires, expressed in barrels of crude oil needed to drive for 15k miles.
1. Toyota Prius III: 6.9 barrels
2. Honda Insight: 8.3 barrels (20% less efficient than Prius)
3. Mercury Milan Hybrid: 8.8 barrels (27% less efficient than Prius)
4. VW Golf TDI: some 11,3 barrels* (64% less efficient than Prius)
5. Audi A3 TDI: same as Golf (as above)
* (number for the Jetta TDI and slightly decreased)
So I'm sorry, but putting inefficient diesels (Golf and A3 are also smaller than Prius) in this comparison is a joke. It only proves people behind this award really have no clue about what they deal with.
Notice also how the much larger and more powerful Milan Hybrid destroys the poor diesels.
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belgian-beer 4:14PM (10/07/2009)
You all knows that you hate diesel.
You are an hybrid lover. We all knows that the prius is good. Yes hybrid is the most efficient. Diesel are different. We can't compare this...
TDI is for people who want to drive fun and want a fuel efficient car.
Milan hybrid vs golf tdi..... It's unfair....
ps: i have nothing against hybrid, it's a great technology and the prius is a great car. no doubt about that. But please don't talk shXX about diesel. I have a 1.6 tdi ( i'm from belgium) , My parents have a prius. Both are great but different. And journalists are journalists ;)
Sam 7:32PM (10/07/2009)
Of course what down to earth doesn't want to tell you is this.
Based on only 15,000 miles a year driving and lets be super generous to the prius and give it a 47 mpg rating and the jetta TDI a 34 mpg rating.(combined real life rating is closer to 40 us mpg check fuel economy.gov for details)
1. The prius emits 99 more lbs carbon monoxide than the jetta tdi. (169 lbs vs 70 lbs)
2. Only emits 12 less lbs per year NoX compared to the Jetta TDI (7 lbs vs 19 lbs)
3 Emits nearly identical amounts of Soot or particulate matter (267 grams vs 255)
This is based on the Jetta TDI getting 34 mpg which it has been proven is way under rated you can research it yourself on this website.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/sbs.htm
the difference between the TDI and the prius is very slight when it comes to real life fuel economy averages. Once you take that into account those numbers above make the real life emissions a pretty close race. (take out the 15% increase energy in diesel for added co2)
Downtoearth always quotes Co2 emissions and runs away with it, he forgets that in the next 2 years 5% of all diesel fuel will contain be biodiesel, further reducing the Co2 impact by another 5%.
Calculations based on
http://www.hybridcars.com/calculator/
Chris M 10:20PM (10/07/2009)
Sam, where did you get those figures from? That website you referenced listed a 51/48/50 mpg city/hiway/combined for 2010 Prius, but 30/41/34 mpg city/hiway/combined for 2010 Jetta TDI manual, so your mileage figures are way off. That website doesn't give the EPA pollution score for either vehicle, so I'm suspecting your CO and Particulate figures are also way off, especially since the Prius earns a SULEV rating and has the lowest emissions of any gasoline fueled vehicle, and the Jetta barely meets minimum emission standards. In short, I think you're spreading bogus figures, I'm just not sure why.
Sam 10:40PM (10/07/2009)
I provided my data link , perhaps you should read a little more carefully
http://www.hybridcars.com/calculator/
try it yourself you might be shocked.
skierpage 12:19AM (10/08/2009)
@Sam,
So according to HybridCars.com, the Jetta TDi is worse in *every single way* than the Prius except for CO.
167% worse Nitrogen Oxide (I think that's the main reason it and other diesels are stuck at a 7 rating on EPA's smog scale compared to 9.5 for most hybrids), 32% worse fuel economy (34 combined vs 50), 4% more particulate matter, 170% more hydrocarbons, and 67% more CO2 emitted (according to fueleconomy.gov).
Chris M 12:29AM (10/08/2009)
Well, according to that Hybrid Cars website (you're right, I didn't spot that the first time, sorry), the Prius does produce more CO - 169 vs 70 for the Jetta, but for all other figures the Prius was better, with 2,236 lbs less CO2, 12 lbs. less NOx, 12 lbs. less particulates, and 13 lbs. less unburned hydrocarbon emissions (that's nearly 2 gallons worth of fuel vapors saved!). So while you may be right on CO, it appears the Prius is better on all other emissions.
Sam 1:25AM (10/08/2009)
@ skierpage
First off I want to say i appreciate your response as I can see you mean well.
I believe the best epa pollution score is a 10 and as far as i know, the prius gets an 8, and there are alot of other hybrids that only score a 6 on the epa pollution score, which is where the TDI sits. This is mainly due to the fact that the engine is not operating for a period of time, and the electric drive offsets the emissions. It does not necessarily mean the prius engine is running cleaner or more efficiently in each and every situation.(cold weather or high speed for example)
In response to the jetta having slightly higher NOX, and other emissions, this is a known fact, which is why i indicated 2 of them above, but they are also put out by the prius which is often overlooked in comparisons. Both vehicles put out a significant amount of pollutants and this is rarely addressed or mentioned regarding the prius, it is often however used to slam the TDI.
Carney 3:56PM (10/07/2009)
What about the Mercury Milan or Ford Fusion flex-fuel model?
Instead of just using a little bit less gasoline for a cost of thousands over the regular car price, how about paying a lot less for the car and using E85, which is 85% alternative fuel (clean burning, renewable ethanol) and only 15% gasoline?
Isn't switching to a different, cleaner fuel MUCH more important than mere conservation of a dirty one?
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Chris M 9:43PM (10/07/2009)
The problem is that a vast majority of those flex-fuel vehicles never get a sip of alcohol at all. Flex-fuel capability doesn't do much good without the E85.