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Five nominees for Green Car Journal's 2009 Green Car Vision Award(TM) have been named, and one will be named the vehicle that best envisions the road ahead.
The Chevrolet Volt, Fisker Karma, Honda FCX Clarity, MINI E and Mitsubishi i-MiEV are the nominees. The winner will be named on Public Policy Day, Feb. 3, at The Washington Auto Show in Washington, D.C.
"Vehicles offering dramatically improved environmental performance are crucial to helping us move beyond today's challenges of oil dependence and growing environmental impacts," says Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of the Green Car Journal and editor of GreenCar.com. "While not yet widely available in new car showrooms, these vehicles each inspire in important ways with their advanced powertrains, use of cleaner or more sustainable fuels, vastly improved efficiencies, or a combination of these attributes."
Unlike concept cars, which tantalize us with wild designs or features that may or may not ever make it to the highway, these five vehicles are real. They are either in limited production or in demonstration programs now, or are in development and on the road to commercialization.
Dispelling the myth that innovation will only come from outside the traditional automotive industry, four of the 2009 Green Car Vision Award finalists are products from major auto manufacturers. The fifth is from a new car company, Fisker Automotive, headed by Henrik Fisker, formerly director of Ford's Global Advanced Design Studio and before that president of BMW division DesignWorks USA.
Chevrolet's Volt is a range-extended, plug-in electric car with a scheduled introduction in late 2010. The Fisker Karma, to be shown in production form next month, is a plug-in hybrid luxury sedan that's set for sale in late 2009. The FCX Clarity, Honda's innovative hydrogen fuel cell sedan, is in very limited production and being leased to a small number of consumers now. The recently unveiled battery electric MINI E will be leased to 500 select consumers in three states. Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric cars are on the highway in a demonstration program with Southern California Edison and PG&E.
"The advanced technology vehicles now available at new car showrooms, like highly efficient gasoline-electric hybrids, are the result of visionary work that occurred years in advance of their introduction to the market," says Cogan. "The five nominees for Green Car Journal's 2009 Green Car Vision Award are exceptional examples of innovation at work."
For more information, visit www.washingtonautoshow.com.
