A petrol-electric hybrid car has been voted the most popular in Drive’s People’s Choice award for Car of the Year.
In an indication of the increased focus on environmentally friendly motoring, the world’s best selling hybrid car has taken out the 2009 Drive Car of the Year People’s Choice award.
The Prius beat 45 Car of the Year finalists – including a twin-turbocharged supercar, highly sought after luxury cars and a V8-powered Holden ute - to take the crown of public favourite.
More than 18,000 people voted for the 2009 People’s Choice awards, which recorded some of the closest voting in the award’s history. All but seven of the 46 cars scored more than 100 votes.
The winning Toyota Prius, which is officially Australia’s greenest car – emitting less than 100 grams of carbon dioxide every kilometre - secured 1584 votes.
Again demonstrating the popularity of locally-made large cars, the Prius beat the second placed Ford Falcon (1187) and the pocket-rocket Volkswagen GTI (1034), and the Mazda 3 (823), consistently the best selling car among private car buyers.
The Toyota Prius’s unexpected victory is taken as a sign of the times for the automotive industry, which is rushing to market more environmentally friendly vehicles as buying tastes change in light of increasing environmental pressures and concerns about global warming.
The Toyota Prius is the world’s highest selling hybrid-electric car, with the Japanese manufacturer selling more than 1 million units since its introduction in 1997.
The third generation Prius has a more powerful 1.8-litre engine matched to an electric motor. Together they make 100kW of power, allowing the Prius to sprint from 0-100km/h in 10.4 seconds.
According to the Government supplied fuel figure it uses a claimed average 3.9 litres of fuel per 100km.
In light of tightening regulations on new vehicles, most car makers are now working on hybrid vehicles as a way to reduce fuel consumption by up to 50 per cent.
Even Porsche will next year begin selling a hybrid version of its Cayenne off-roader, while Ferrari is developing a hybrid supercar.
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