Honda (NYSE: HMC) won the "Greenest Automaker" title from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) for the fifth consecutive time, narrowly beating Toyota (NYSE: TM) and Hyundai (HYMLF.PK), which tie for second, finishing just one point behind Honda.
“It was a photo finish, but Honda is still the champ,” said Jim Kliesch, a senior engineer in UCS’s Clean Vehicles Program and the author of the rankings report. “Toyota was poised to take the lead, but stalled in its efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Meanwhile, Hyundai’s fleet saw dramatic efficiency improvements, pushing the company into a title contender spot.”
UCS’s “Automaker Rankings” analysis captures automakers’ real-world environmental performance by ranking them based on average per-mile smog pollution and global warming emissions of the entire fleet of vehicles sold. The science organization scores each of the top eight automakers (comprising 92% of model year 2008 U.S. sales) against the “industry average” of all eight combined. The methodology weighs smog and global warming scores equally to determine each automaker’s overall score. With the industry average assigned a score of 100, automakers’ scores reflect how far above or below average an automaker pollutes. Lower scores are better; higher scores are worse.
“Honda is now five for five, though to retain its title in our next analysis, it will need stronger sales of efficient hybrids and better environmental performance from its conventional vehicles,” said Kliesch. “Toyota also will need to make fleetwide improvements to stay in contention. Without its successful Prius hybrid, the company would have placed fourth this year instead of second.” As to these companies’ newest competition, said Kliesch, “Hyundai, the new kid on the eco-friendly block, could be a real spoiler in the coming years.”
Honda finished with an overall score of 86, reflecting a fleet 14% cleaner than that of the top eight manufacturers combined. Toyota and Hyundai each finished with 87. Volkswagen (VOW.DE) came in fourth place (90), followed by Nissan (NSANY.PK) (93), Ford (NYSE: F) (108), General Motors (109) and Chrysler (113). The analysis is based on model year 2008 data, the latest available.
The three Detroit automakers have consistently placed at the bottom of UCS’s Automaker Rankings analyses. Of the three companies, Ford has generally been the best, though this year only one point separates it from General Motors. “Ford is using the right playbook now by relying on both class-leading hybrids and better conventional technology. The company’s future score will depend on how many of these vehicles get into consumers’ hands,” Kliesch said.
General Motors’ next to last place ranking was due to its continued focus on inefficient vehicles with lackluster smog performance. Surprisingly, average smog emissions of GM’s hybrids were worse than the combined average of all eight manufacturers’ model year 2008 vehicles–hybrid and nonhybrid. “To date, GM has largely squandered its hybrid technology by using it to boost power instead of fuel efficiency and pollution control,” Kliesch explained. “Some models, such as the Chevrolet Volt and Cruze Eco offer promise of new thinking within GM, but the company needs to make improvements across its entire fleet to really move the needle.”
Chrysler, the dirtiest automaker, has finished last in four of the five UCS rankings conducted over the past ten years. “Chrysler does what’s required by law and not much more,” Kliesch said. “When it comes to environmental performance, Chrysler managers need to get their heads in the game.”
All of the automakers have improved their performance since UCS first ranked them, starting with model year 1998, and the gap between the worst and best automaker has narrowed. State and federal emissions laws, along with a growing market for clean cars, are prodding automakers to produce cleaner vehicles, according to Kliesch.
“One of the analysis’ clear findings is that clean car policies work,” Kliesch said. “There’s great ingenuity in the auto industry, and better products are already beginning to reach the market. In the coming years, stronger standards will guarantee that consumers reap these benefits.”
Just last week the Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency outlined intentions for the next round of clean car standards covering model years 2017 to 2025. UCS and other groups are pushing the agency to adopt an average fleetwide standard of 60 miles per gallon and 143 grams per mile of global warming pollution by 2025.
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