The finalists for the Green Car of the Year award have been announced, as Green Car Journal, which hands out the honours, prepares to reveal the winner at the opening of the Los Angeles Auto Show next month.
The US publication reveals that the five finalist for the 2012 honours are the 2012 Ford Focus Electric, 2012 Honda Civic Natural Gas, 2012 Mitsubishi i, 2012 Toyota Prius v and 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI.
To be in the running for the award, the cars have to available by January 1st of the award year and show a real environmental step forward. It’s not easy to pick the winner, the editors for the Journal tell us, especially as all fuel types are considered; from high-efficiency gasoline and diesel models to ones which run on gaseous fuels, electricity and other alternatives. As long as they can show a quantifiable environmental achievement.
What is notable about this year’s field of nominees is that they represent different takes on what makes a car ‘green.’ Honda’s Civic Natural Gas champions an alternative fuel that burns cleanly and is abundant in the U.S. The Volkswagen Passat TDI continues this automaker’s expansion of new clean diesel products that produce significantly lower emissions while achieving an impressively high mpg rating. The Prius v is a larger variant of Toyota’s popular hybrid model and marks an expansion of Prius into its own family of vehicles. Ford’s Focus Electric and Mitsubishi’s i contribute to America’s rise in all-electric vehicles.
"This year’s Green Car of the Year finalists underscore that there is no single solution to our transportation challenges," said Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of Green Car Journal and editor of GreenCar.com. "Here we have five exceptional answers to the question of how we’re going to increase efficiencies, reduce tailpipe and CO2 emissions, and decrease petroleum use. These nominees deserve to be recognized for their unique approaches in providing consumers diverse choices as cars intelligently evolve toward a more environmentally-compatible motoring future."
The final winner will be announced at the opening press day of the Los Angeles Auto Show, on November 16, 2011.
