UK: Green car day culminates in top award for Volvo at What Car? Green Awards

Held alongside the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership's annual conference and the Brighton to London Eco-Rally, as part of a day dedicated to green motoring, the Volvo beat 23 contenders in categories ranging from best green supermini to best green 4x4 to take the top honour.

Presenting the award at London's City Hall, the Mayor, Boris Johnson said: "Three cheers to the Volvo S40 DRIVe for scooping the top prize for green motoring at this year's What Car? Awards. There are clear incentives for manufacturers to raise the bar higher and higher to design less gas guzzling cars that take hundreds of pounds off consumers' fuel bills. This is good for the planet, good for the economy and great for the driver."

What Car? editor Steve Fowler added: "The S40 is a great example of a car maker cleverly refining existing technologies to make a seriously green car. It's not just about a low CO2 figure, though: the S40 is great to drive, safe, has enough space for the family and, crucially, is cheap to run, too."

Other award winners included the Fiat 500 Stop&Start, which won best green supermini, and the Lexus RX450h SE-L which took the award for best green SUV. The British-built MINI Cooper S picked up the award for the greenest sports car and Citroën's Grand C4 Picasso was named best green MPV, with both cars winning their respective awards for the second year running.

Earlier in the day The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership used their sixth annual conference to launch a Technology Challenge to provide a platform for promising innovations to be showcased to senior managers and directors of the component and vehicle manufacturers.

The LowCVP Chair, Professor Neville Jackson, Group Technology Director of Ricardo said: "The LowCVP has identified that the networking of ideas is fundamental to successful innovation. Helping to connect small and emerging technology-based companies with the right people higher in the automotive supply chain could produce substantial benefits."

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Credits: JRC