Environmentally Friendly Vehicles... Who's the Best and Worst?
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| If you want to save the world, buy a Honda. While that might be a bit of an overstatement, the Japanese company has been give the top seal of approval by the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, D.C. |
According to a survey published recently by the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, D.C., Honda produces the lowest emission vehicle fleet in the North American market.
Which company is the worst offender? DaimlerChrysler is at the bottom of the list. But before we give them a bad name it is important to understand how the survey was conducted and the facts analyzed. Being that nine of every ten vehicles sold in the U.S. come from the top 6 automakers alone, no smaller companies were included in the survey.
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| DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler and Dodge brands build a lot of large cars, larger SUVs and still larger trucks. while their vehicles aren't necessarily less clean than some of their direct model competitors, the majority of their sales are these large vehicles instead of small economy cars, negatively affecting their rating. |
As it stands, from cleanest to dirtiest, the companies fall in line as follows: Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Ford Motor, General Motors and lastly DaimlerChrysler. Out of the 6 Ford was the only carmaker to move up from last year in the annual survey. In compiling the facts the UCS analyzed two main environmental problems related to vehicles, smog-forming pollution and carbon dioxide emissions that are linked to global warming.
So how do the six automakers stack up? Due to their dominance in the market these six largest producers account for 93% of all smog-forming pollution and 92% of all carbon dioxide emissions. Another consideration is that federal regulations allow trucks to pollute more than cars, resulting in an average 2001 model year truck excreting 2.4 times more smog-forming pollutants and 1.4 times as many CO2 emissions than the average 2001 car. Obviously there's still work to do cleaning up the auto industry.