Honda ranked greenest among automakers

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The Union of Concerned Scientists said the greenest car company for the fifth year in a row was Japanese automaker Honda, followed by Toyota and Hyundai.

Senior UCS engineer Jim Kliesch called the results of this year's comparison "a photo finish."

"But Honda is still the champ," he said.

The science association looks at the Top 8 car companies, as measured by U.S. sales, and compares them individually against the group's average. Each company is tested for smog and global warming emissions, which are given equal weight in the scoring.

Honda scored an 86, the UCS said in a statement Saturday. That score indicates Honda's fleet was "14 percent cleaner than that of the top eight manufacturers combined," the statement said.

Toyota and Hyundai, however, each scored 87. Volkswagen, in fourth place, scored a 90, followed by Nissan with a 93, Ford with 108, General Motors with 109 and Chrysler with 113.

U.S. manufacturers have consistently ranked as the least green among the companies tested. "Ford is using the right playbook now by relying on both class-leading hybrids and better conventional technology," Kliesch said. However, "The company's future score will depend on how many of these vehicles get into consumers' hands," he said.

"To date," he added, "GM has largely squandered its hybrid technology by using it to boost power instead of fuel efficiency and pollution control."