Although “eco-friendliness” ranks well behind “safety” and “value” among qualities consumers consider when buying cars, Consumer Reports did due diligence finding out which brands of cars are perceived as the most green. To be clear, they only tested for brand’s perception as an eco-friendly car-maker, not how friendly the actual car is to Mother Earth.
It’s probably no surprise that Toyota ranks the highest, with its seemingly ubiquitous Prius. Nearly half of the consumers surveyed say they associate Toyota with being green, twice as many as selected the runner-up brand, Honda. Ford (Escape Hybrid), Chevrolet (Tahoe Hybrid), and GMC (Yukon Hybrid) came in at third, fourth, and fifth places, respectively.
Although being “green” came in fifth among qualities consumers say they look for, it’s encouraging that eco-friendliness was ranked higher than “design/style” and “technology/innovation.” To me, that signifies that Americans may be more willing to put the environment above looks and style or unnecessary doo-dads when purchasing their next automobile. Of course, if we had better public transportation systems, we might not need all those cars on the road at all. But hey, a gal can dream.
