Prius Awarded WhatGreenCar Car of the Year 2009

The new Toyota Prius was chosen from a short-list of 10 green car finalists which were test-driven at Imperial College, London, by six of the UK's leading green transport and environmental experts. The judging was completely independent and showcased the most innovative green cars available to drive in the UK during 2009.

The 10 cars up for contention for the 2009 Award included: the Citroen C1 ev'ie electric, Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric, Toyota iQ, Ford Fiesta ECOnetic, third-generation Toyota Prius hybrid, Volvo S40/V50 DRIVe start-stop, new Honda Insight hybrid, Volkswagen Passat BlueMotion 2, BMW 318d saloon, and the Citroen C3 Picasso compact-MPV.

Dr Ben Lane, Managing Editor of WhatGreenCar said: "While this year's judges were rightly impressed by the range of green car technologies employed by the 10 car short-list, they were unanimous in their acclaim for the new Prius. In addition to the new model's best-in-class cradle-to-crave environmental credentials, the panel particularly commented on the way the car seamlessly integrates green features as part of its design. If Apple made a car, it would probably be the third generation Prius".

The New Toyota Prius Awarded WhatGreenCar Car of the Year 2009