Prius named 'greenest' car, Ford F-350 'meanest'

Paul A. Eisenstein, the Detroit Bureau-20 days

The Toyota Prius C, the newest member of the Toyota Prius "Family" was appointed for an energy-efficient economy of the nation "greenest" car by the American Council. At the other end of the spectrum, the ACEEE paved the Ford F-350 as "evil" or dirtiest vehicle on the road.

The organization is "to promote catalyst for energy efficiency" describing itself as a welcomed the growing number of hybrids, plug-in, purely battery-electric vehicles and other environmental friendly vehicles now come onto the market and noted that new products dominated the dozen models on the list of the "Greenest" vehicles.

"The cars at the top of this year's rankings are proof that the automakers are really on their offerings, ramps," said ACEEE leading vehicle analyst shruti Vaidyanathan. "There are more hybrid and electric options on the market this year than ever before and the race for a spot on the greenest list is increasingly competitive. Car manufacturers have revised their offers to the growing demand for energy-efficient vehicles and new fuel economy standards."

While a select group of conventionally powered vehicles still in the study to do, they have largely driven by recent deals with some form of battery power, lightweight hybrids and full electric drive. The Honda Civic model natural gas, not dominated, since eight years even make ACEEE top the number greenest model 12 this time. Only the smart fortwo and Scion iQ Microcars made with gasoline-powered engines.

All members of the new Prius family the original Prius hatchback 'Greenest' honors, took third place, the great Prius V in 11th and the Prius Plug in hybrid landing in the fourth quarter.

While the Honda natural gas model from the list for the survey, 25 year was run over, earned the Japanese manufacturer's fit electric number two spot, while its new Civic Hybrid in the fifth landed.

Three models of the Ford Motor Co. acquired also the 'Greenest' awards including the focus EV and the C-Max hybrid fusion. The dozen honored included badges Jetta two Europeans, the VW hybrid in the seventh and eighth smart fortwo.

Along with the list of the "Greenest" gave the ACEEE viewing, a dozen "greener choice" models, which were the cleanest in their individual product segments. Half claimed the winner, including the Encore of Buick and Chevrolet Equinox Detroit models.

However, Ford has been hammered with three "Meanest" models, a list that included not only the F-350, but also the smaller F-250 pickup.

The ACEEE study has traditionally as a series of factors that determine "Greenest" and "Meanest" list "unhealthy tailpipe emissions fuel consumption and emissions of gases that contribute to climate change." However, it has the methodology this year updated also issues such as emissions from the manufacturing process and the forecast mix of fuels to generate electricity for electric vehicles.

Some skeptics argue that the connector-based vehicles not so much eliminating the pollution, but simply move the source of this last fact is important. Even proponents concede that their benefits may vary, depending on whether they say we, a wind farm or a coal generator tap are.

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Cadillac ATS named car of the year at the auto show

Paul A. Eisenstein, the Detroit Bureau

Detroit manufacturer dominates as the Detroit show 2013 opened car with the annual North American International Auto and truck of the year awards.

Cadillac claimed that introduced the coveted car of the year, with its new 2013 ATS compact luxury sedan. The new RAM was honored in the category of truck/utility 1500 pickup.

"I need someone who come up here and pinch myself to make sure that really happened," said Fred Diaz, CEO of the RAM, as he climbed the stage to collect the trophy. The price was all the sweeter, he proclaimed, this parent Chrysler was considering bankruptcy and written way dead, many, just a few years ago.

But the same could be said for General Motors, which, like Chrysler, Chapter 11 mid-2009 only with the help of a rescue operation emerged from, to produce the still controversial. That GM officials said, that is why it is so important, third-party endorsements for vehicles such as the ATS.

"When you consider that Cadillac endeavour, even as the restore standard of the world, this is an important moment," explains Dave Leone, Chief Engineer of the ATS project.

The TDB continuous coverage of the Detroit Auto Show

This is the first time in the 20 years of the voted that Cadillac has won, even though it was already nominated. RAM won once, before for the collection of 1500 - or more precisely, the truck took honors for the Dodge Division before RAM abgespaltenen independently.

The truck failed two crossovers in the first year the category officially both conventional trucks and commercial vehicles, the Mazda CX-5 and the Ford C-Max contain.

The car had against the Ford Fusion and Honda Accord squared CTS out.

A total of 49 judges from the United States and Canada increased the potential bias in the polls - a group, covering a wide range of voices, avoid other prices face. (Full disclosure, TheDetroitBureau.com Publisher Paul A. Eisenstein is member of the jury of voted.)

More than 50 different vehicles Board, a list as part of the process were initially at the voted, that contain back slowly trimmed a grueling shootout between the competitors in the appropriately named hell, Michigan.

Over the years, Detroit manufacturer 11 taken car of the year award, with Japanese makers to win three, two Europeans and Koreans twice.

On the side of the truck domestic workers have won 13 times, from today Japanese makers four times and Europeans have captured three awards.

Bear in mind that placed in the voted awards, industry observers expect strong Cadillac and RAM their victories in their marketing campaigns promote the credibility to start almost immediately.

Copyright © 2009-2012, the Detroit Bureau

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Ford Fusion named green car of the year

Paul A. Eisenstein, the Detroit Bureau
Despite the media fixation on battery power are automotive insiders are quick to warn that there is no "silver bullet" solution, no single technology that probably meet all needs for clean and efficient cars of tomorrow.

This message was by choosing the 2013 Ford Fusion as the green car of the year, an award designed to the spotlight on the latest clean-tech automobile focus hammered home.

A key to the decision was the fact that the mid-sized sedan makes a wide range of alternative Powertrain, the conventional petrol up to a completely new plug-in hybrid offers.

"This is an example of automotive democracy," said Ron Cogan, Publisher of green car journal, the organizer of the annual award.

Now in its eighth year that green car of the year award has a decidedly independent - some would say counter-intuitive - concept for the selection of the winner. While several hybrids have claimed the coveted trophy, the jurors have honored also diesel, such as the Audi A3 TDI. And this year's five finalists include two gas-only models: the eco-version of the Dodge Dart 2013 and the new Mazda CX-5 SkyActiv crossover.

What is critical, Cogan said, is that, while some very impressive mileage battery cars and plug-in the supply can, most have limited sales potential "and not much influence on the environment achieved." Technologies such as Ford's turbocharged EcoBoost engines have not quite the mpg numbers, but they "a broader example."

In the case who said fusion 2013 Ford the manufacturer has given buyers a wide range to choose from, Ford's marketing manager Dave Mondragon after the takeover of the green car award.

Mondragon said he clearly pleased with the honor, and hopes that it will provide Ford, a way to show how much it has changed its approach to the fuel consumption. "We moved before are the latecomers to the leaders," he said and pointed out that the Detroit maker has higher mileage ratings on its products in every segment where it competes directly with Toyota.

The Japanese manufacturer, which hoped for the green car Award with its own finalist, get hold of the new Prius C – not only has the best-selling hybrid on the market, that original Prius hatchback, but also in the position was to burnish the reputation of the green leader.

Hopes that help him challenge the Green Car Award Ford Toyota's perceptive lead, said senior marketing executive Amy Marentec TheDetroitBureau.com. In this way, "absolute", she said that Ford will soon promote the honor in their promotional activities for the fusion and possibly other products.

"We're going to have this talk."

The green car of the year award was certainly not the only note on the LA Auto show, that the industry is looking for a broad portfolio of eco-friendly solutions.

There have been a number of purely battery-electric and plug-in models - such as the Chevrolet spark EV and Honda Civic PHEV presented at the annual fair. But Audi has four new diesel models, including a TDI version of the A8 flagship. Mazda lifted its new Mazda6, a midsize sedan, the parts of the CX-5 SkyActiv petrol engine but get the new SkyActiv D diesel in the second half of next year is also the cover.

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Volkswagen Up! named World Car of the Year

The Detroit Bureau

Lead designer Oliver Stefani holds the World Car of the Year award for the Volkswagen Up!

By Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit BureauThe pint-sized Volkswagen Up! has nabbed a big honor, winning the sought-after World Car of the Year trophy during a morning session at the 2012 New York Auto Show.

The victory took many observers by surprise, especially considering the minicar was going up for the award against the widely-hailed and more universally available updates of the BMW 3-Series and Porsche 911.

“Our goal was always to make something small great,” said Olivier Stefani, the lead  designer on the Up! program, which has become one of the centerpieces of VW’s push to go green – in many ways serving as the modern-day alternative to the legendary Volkswagen Beetle.

 The World Car awards, now in their sixth year, are the result of voting by 64 motoring journalists based on every continent short of Antarctica, and “reflect the worldwide realities of making (vehicles) successful in the global auto industry,” said Matt Davis, one of the program’s chief organizers.

Along with the main World Car of the Year award, there were three other trophies to be distributed, including World Green Car, which went to the Mercedes-Benz S250 CDI Blue Efficiency diesel sedan.

That marks a significant shift in the industry, suggested the maker’s Christopher Horn, who added that the idea “of a 4-cylinder engine in a Mercedes S-Class was something unheard of a few years ago.”

Like the VW Up!, the S250 is not currently available in the U.S. market, Horn noted, but he said the underlying powertrain will appear in the 2013 update of the Mercedes-Benz GLK crossover-utility vehicle.

Land Rover, meanwhile, received some much-welcomed support for its shift in strategy, the World Design of the Year award going to the maker’s new Range Rover Evoq – its first-ever crossover-based utility vehicle.

“I like to say that great design is the gateway to customer desirability because it makes an emotional connection,” said Land Rover chief designer Gerry McGovern.

Porsche might have lost the World Car trophy but its seventh-generation 911 sports car didn’t leave empty-handed, so to speak, the 2013 remake being named World Performance Car of the Year.

“The car has become an icon over the past 50 years,” said Porsche Cars North America CEO Detlev von Platen.  “This is encouragement to continue for another 50.”

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Lexus named most dependable; Chrysler last

DETROIT — Toyota's luxury brand Lexus topped a vehicle dependability survey of owners of 3-year-old cars and trucks as model-year 2009 vehicles improved to record-high quality levels, J.D. Power & Associates said on Wednesday.

Chrysler vehicles, made during the tail end of ownership by a private equity firm before it was taken over by Fiat SpA in mid-2009, were at the bottom of the list for dependability and reliability, J.D. Power's survey showed.

Model-year cars from 2009, made during one of the worst downturns in automotive history, were more reliable than those in any previous survey, which dates back to 1990, said David Sargent, vice president of global automotive for J.D. Power & Associates.

"The data is pretty clear," Sargent said. "These were the best quality vehicles ever built up until this time. It's a pretty good testament to the industry. Some of the automakers were facing, potentially, the end, and all of them were struggling to sell any product."

In 2009, U.S. auto sales hit the lowest level since World War II, when adjusted for population, and both Chrysler and General Motors underwent government-sponsored bankruptcies and Ford Motor borrowed heavily to avoid the same fate.

Behind Lexus in order of consumer perception were Porsche; GM's luxury brand Cadillac; Toyota's namesake brand; Toyota's youth-oriented Scion brand; Daimler AG's luxury Mercedes-Benz brand; Ford's luxury brand Lincoln and then Ford's namesake line.

Among non-luxury brands, the leaders were, in order: Toyota, Ford, Hyundai and Honda.

At the bottom were Chrysler's namesake brand, and three other Chrysler brands -- Dodge, Jeep and Ram trucks.

Sargent said cars and trucks made since 2010 for all four of those Chrysler brands have improved dramatically.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters.

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