17.06.2010 LAMBORGHINI MURCIÉLAGO IS NAMED "LEAST GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR"

LAMBORGHINI MURCIELAGO LP640

The Lamborghini Murciélago, a sports car that over the course of a year emits an amount of CO2 that is equivalent to felling a football pitch-sized forest of trees, has been named the Least Green Car of the Year 2010 by the UK-based Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

The Lamborghini emits exactly five times more CO2 per kilometre than the car named by ETA as the Green Car of the Year, the 99g/km Toyota iQ. Over a year of driving, the Toyota emits CO2 equivalent to that absorbed by three tennis courts of forest. The ETA examined over 5,000 models of car and compared their power, emissions, fuel efficiency and the amount of noise they produce to create a definitive guide to buying the greenest vehicle.

While the Murciélago collected the dubious honour of being the least green car according to the ETA's research, second place went to Ferrari's 612 Scaglietti while the next three spots were claimed by Bentley models', namely the Brooklands, Arnarge and Azure. Ferrari had two representatives in the top-ten with the 599 GTB Fiorano the other, it was placed sixth, while the rest of the top order was made up of the Aston Martin V12 Vantage, Cadillac Escalade, a fourth representative from Bentley, this time in the shape of the Continental, and finally Aston Martin's DBS. Splitting down further into categories the ETA also adjudged the Murciélago to have the highest CO2 emissions and be the biggest fuel guzzler.

Andrew Davis, director at the ETA, said: “With emissions five times worse than the greenest car, the Lamborghini is the bull in an environmental china shop. Thankfully, there are very few on the roads and there is an increasing choice of environmentally-sound cars. With the price of petrol at record levels and greater understanding about the threat to the environment there has never been a more important time to make fuel efficiency a deciding factor when choosing a car.”

Environmental Transport Association: Green Car Awards 2010 results

Category Best Worst
Green Car of the Year 2010 Toyota iQ Lamborghini Murciélago
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 Murciélago
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
 

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