The headline grabber: Italy's Lamborghini Murcielago has been named and shamed as the most polluting car of the nation by the UK's Environmental Transport Association (ETA), being five times as worse than the greenest automobile of 2010, Japan's 99g/km Toyota iQ.
"With emissions five times worse than the greenest car, the Lamborghini is the bull in an environmental china shop," said Andrew Davis, director of the ETA. "Thankfully, there are very few on the roads and there is an increasing choice of environmentally-sound cars."
The group said it examined over 5,000 cars sold in the UK ranking them for their power, emissions, fuel efficiency and the amount of noise they produce. ETA also said that a poll of 1,500 British drivers found that Scots were most inclined (42%) to buy a smaller car in order to reduce their motoring costs, while drivers living in the north of England were the least inclined (34%).
The untold story: As with most reports of the sort, ETA and Mr. Davis forget to stress the fact that super cars like the Lamborghini Murcielago and the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, which top both CO2 and fuel cost lists, are not only extremely rare, but also won't ever be used as near as much as a Toyota iQ or the Honda Insight.
This means that their actual total emissions (we won't even bother with fuel costs) are pretty much inconsequential. A quick search on UK's (since the study was for Britain) eBay can provide proof for this.
Source: Environmental Transport Association
ETA's GREEN CAR AWARDS 2010
Category | Best | Worst |
Green Car of the Year 2010 | Toyota iQ | Lamborghini Murcielago |
Greenest small family car | Honda Insight 1.3 | VW Golf 3.2 V6 |
Greenest large family car | BMW 320d Touring | Vauxhall Insignia VXR V6 Turbo |
Greenest Supermini | Toyota Yaris 1.4 D-4D | Renault Clio Sport 200 |
Greenest city car | Toyota iQ | Ford Ka 1.6 Sportka |
Greenest sports car | Vauxhall Tigra | Lamborghini Murcielago |
Greenest MPV | Peugeot Bipper Tepee | Mercedes R63 |
Greenest small MPV | Renault Modus 1.5dci | Vauxhall Zafira VXR 2.0i Turbo |
Greenest off-road car | BMW X1 E84 | Mercedes ML63 |
Greenest luxury car | BMW 740d | Bentley Brooklands |
TOP 10 MOST POLLUTING CARS
1. Lamborgini Murcielago
2. Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
3. Bentley Motors Brooklands
4. Bentley Motors Arnage
5. bentley Motors Azure
6. Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
7. Bentley Motors Continental
8. Aston Martin V12 Vantage
9. Cadillac Escalade
10. Rolls Royce PhantomTOP 10 LEAST POLLUTING CARS
1. Toyota iQ
2. Honda Insight
3. Volkswagen New Polo
4. Toyota Yaris
5. Toyota Prius
6. Nissan Pixo
7. Suzuki Alto
8. Honda Civic Hybrid
9. Ford Fiesta
10. Mazda 2
TOP 10 CARS WITH HIGHEST FUEL COSTS
1. Lamborghini Murcielago
2. Ferrari 612 Scaglietti
3. Bentley Motors Brooklands
4. Bentley Motors Arnage
5. Bentley Motors Azure
6. Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
7. Bentley Motors Continental
8. Aston Martin V12 Vantage
9. Cadillac Escalade
10. Ferrari 430 ScuderiaTOP 10 CARS WITH LOWEST FUEL COSTS
1. Smart Fortwo
2. Volkswagen New Polo
3. Ford Fiesta
4. Vaixhall Corsa
5. Seat Ibiza
6. Peugeot 207
7. Volvo C30
8. Volkswagen Polo
9. Citroen New C3
10. Toyota Prius
