Japan rules, U.S. drools in new list of greenest vehicles
An annual list of the world’s greenest cars placed the top American car at an impressive, uh, No. 10, while Japanese cars took all of the top five spots. (But American cars dominated the Totally Un-Gay Testostero-Manly Mean Machine list!) The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy gave the two-door hybrid Honda Insight top marks, based on fuel economy and air-polluting emissions. The natural-gas-powered Honda Civic GX, Toyota’s Prius hybrid, the Honda Civic hybrid, and Toyota’s gasoline-powered Corolla rounded out the top five. The first U.S. car on the list was GM’s Pontiac Vibe — built with a Toyota emissions system and engine — which tied for 10th place with its Toyota twin, the Matrix. The Dodge Ram SRT10 pickup truck was judged the un-greenest for the second year running (congrats!). But even the best car got only 57 points on the council’s 100-point scale. Better luck next year.
