(October 9, 2010)  Honda has been named America's "Greenest Automaker" for the fifth consecutive time by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The award is earned by the company with the lowest combined score of its smog-forming and greenhouse gas emissions (primarily CO2) in its U.S. automobile fleet.

Honda has led the UCS rankings of overall vehicle environmental performance since the first UCS study in 2000, marking a decade of Honda leadership in reduced vehicle emissions.

Honda earned the recognition this year with an industry-best score based on model year 2008 data, the latest available for analysis.

"It was a photo finish, but Honda is still the champ,” said Jim Kliesch, a senior engineer in UCS’s Clean Vehicles Program and the author of the rankings report. “Toyota was poised to take the lead, but stalled in its efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Meanwhile, Hyundai’s fleet saw dramatic efficiency improvements, pushing the company into a title contender spot.”

"Honda's decade-long claim to the Greenest Automaker title has set a high bar for the industry," said  Kliesch. "The companies that do best in our analysis continually strive not only to sell the greenest vehicles, but also to green their best-sellers."

Honda finished with an overall score of 86, reflecting a fleet 14 percent cleaner than that of the top eight manufacturers combined. Toyota and Hyundai each finished with 87. Volkswagen came in fourth place (90), followed by Nissan (93), Ford (108), General Motors (109) and Chrysler (113). The analysis is based on model year 2008 data, the latest available.

"As with the past four awards, we accept this fifth honor as both recognition of our success and a challenge for the future," said John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "We continue to accelerate our efforts to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions that contribute to global climate change."

Honda's efforts to improve fuel efficiency have resulted in a one mpg gain in the company's U.S. corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) for model year 2009, up 3.3 percent over the previous model year to 31.3 mpg, and 9.8 percent above the MY2009 industry average of 28.8 mpg, as determined by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Since MY2005, Honda's CAFE has increased 7.2 percent, outpacing the company's voluntary goal, established in May 2006, to achieve a 5 percent gain in CAFE over 2005 levels by 2010.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is the leading science-based non-profit organization working for a healthier environment and a safer world. UCS conducts an analysis of major U.S. automakers every two years. This year's report analyzes fuel economy and emissions certification standards of each company's car and light truck fleet to determine its overall contribution of smog-forming and heat trapping emissions.

Honda also topped the rankings in the 2007, 2004, 2002 and 2000 UCS reports.