Toyota Prius challenge in ‘green’ race

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Written by Michael Moroney

Thursday, 11 October 2007

Researchers at Cardiff University and Clifford Thames, an automotive consultancy claim that conventional petrol and diesel cars are beginning to outpace Toyota’s Prius on environmental friendliness.

The Toyota Prius hybrid remains the cleanest for its size, but is outranked by 11 smaller Peugeot, Citroen, Ford, Smart and other cars in a new environmental ratings system, which has been devised by the researchers.

They claim that petrol and diesel cars with new emissions-cutting technology will outpace the Prius on a size-for-size basis over the next 12-18 months. The research underlines the improvements vehicle manufacturers are under to reduce emissions on non-hybrid cars.

The rankings also take into account cars’ overall environmental footprint - including raw materials, production and end-of-life costs - based on their length, width and weight. The team rated the Smart Roadster as the most environmentally-friendly car available followed by the Smart Fortwo Cabriolet and the Citroen C1 1.0i.

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