Vauxhall and Opel’s pan-European hunt for the ‘Greenest Driver’ came to a close on Saturday July 23 when António Gonçalves was crowned the overall winner. As the lucky champion, Portuguese António wins a brand new and highly anticipated Ampera model, ahead of production set for 2011.
Under the motto: "Green Driver: Wanted!" the car maunfacturer initiated a two-month long ecoFLEX Experience competition to drive home the point that eco-conscious driving techniques – coupled with the right vehicles – can significantly reduce CO2 emissions.
The company first whittled down a playing field of nearly 70,000 contestants to just 20 – one from each participating country. The finalists were brought together this past weekend at Sturup Raceway near Malmö, Sweden for the grand finale. After two days of action packed driving challenges, the 25-year-old ecoFLEX Experience champion accepted a symbolic key for the grand prize, one of the very first electric Amperas, which is on schedule to go into production next year.
The extended-range electric vehicle – the first car of its kind in Europe – will be on sale in Europe at the end of 2011 and will reach the UK early in 2012.
"I definitely wanted to win because I wanted that Ampera," said a proud and happy Gonçalves. "That’s why my main focus was to drive as consistently as possible."
The second- and third-place winners also have reason to celebrate. The runner-up, fuel-saving champion Yakup Pelit from Denmark, won an Astra 1.3 CDTI ecoFLEX. The 95PS compact car offers a combined fuel consumption of 68.9 mpg resulting in exemplary CO2 emissions of 109 grams per kilometre.
Number three, the Finn Keijo Tapio Leppävuori, can show off his eco-friendly driving style in a Corsa 1.3 CDTI ecoFLEX that achieves a combined fuel consumption of 76.3 mpg and a CO2 figure of 98 g/km
The participants had to demonstrate their fuel-saving abilities in four disciplines at the Swedish Sturup Raceway. The first was a typical city tour in the Corsa with a lot of starts, stops and varied speed limits. The second smooth cruising against the clock with the top-of-the-line Insignia. Third a Meriva challenge with participants traveling as far as possible on half litre of diesel, and finally with 1.6l of fuel in the tank of an Astra the contestants raced to see who could cover 20 laps in the fastest time.
At the end of the weekend, António Gonçalves found the best balance between fuel-saving techniques and a speedy driving style, with an overall consumption average of just 71.5 mpg (3.95 l/100 km). This put him ahead of the other country winners, proving that environmentally friendly driving can be fun – and profitable.
The overwhelming interest in the Vauxhall/Opel ecoFLEX Experience exceeded all expectations. In Germany alone, almost 19,000 people registered to participate, while in the UK, Turkey, France and Italy over 5,000 participants registered in each country.
