22/06/2012 16:56
The nominations for this year's Next Green Car Awards have been announced and Renault, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Ford, Citroen and Hyundai are just some of the carmakers in the running.
France firm Renault will be launching a two-pronged attack on the ceremony, with two of its cars up for gongs, while Ford has the potential to bag a hat-trick of trophies.
The Supermini shortlist for 2012 will see the innovative Renault ZOE Z.E, which boasts CO2 figures of zero g/km, will face off against its Peugeot rival, the 208 1.4 e-HDi, which claims to emit just 87 g/km of CO2.
In the Small Family category Vauxhall will commence battle with Ford as both the Ampera REEV and Focus 1.0T EcoBoost are named as contenders.
However, the Large Family section looks to be a two-horsed race between French giants Citroen and Renault, with the Fluence Z.E and the Ds5 Hybrid4 likely to land the title.
Commenting on the contenders, Dr Ben Lane, managing editor of Next Green Car, said: "2012 continues to be an exciting time for green cars with the launch of several high quality plug-in electric and hybrid models incentivised by the Plug-in Car Grant.
"In response to car buyer demand for fuel efficient cars and spurred on by EU CO2 regulations, manufacturers are also working harder than ever to bring high ‘mpg’, low emission petrol and diesel models to the UK market."
Other cars in the running for a prize include the Peugeot 508 RXH HYbrid4 and Ford Focus 1.0T EcoBoost Estate, which are nominated for the Large Family Estate gong, and the Ford B-Max 1.6 TDCi and the Vauxhall Zafira ECOflex Tourer, which have been named on the MPV 2012 shortlist.
Melanie Shufflebotham, sales and marketing director at the firm, added: "With the costs of motoring continuing to increase, UK car buyers are looking for good quality, fuel efficient cars.
"The Next Green Car awards provide car buyers with an independent view on the best green cars coming to the market in 2012 to help them buy their next green car."
Posted by Louise Clark