Green group produces list of top 12 eco-friendly vehicles
American autos are drowning their sorrows in foreign oil after not making the 2007 Green Book list of the top 12 eco-friendly vehicles, released yesterday by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Honda’s natural-gas-powered Civic GX (available only in California and New York) regained its top spot for the third time in four years; the Toyota Prius was the first runner-up, followed by Honda Civic and Nissan Altima hybrids and the subcompact Toyota Yaris. The ACEEE, which based its calculations on fuel economy and emissions, also put out a bottom 12 list, chock full of diesel-powered European models that will soon face stricter diesel standards. Also heartening: four new models made the clean dozen, and a bunch more just missed the cut. “It used to be the case that the greenest vehicles were a select number of models that stood far above the pack,” says Green Book author James Kliesch. “Today, the eco-friendly field has become much more crowded, and that’s good news for consumers.”
