When it comes to pollution, all automakers are not created equal. The Union of Concerned Scientists ranked automakers on the performance of their new (1998) vehicles, based on air pollution and global warming emissions. Here are their findings.

Domestic automakers own the largest market share – 73 percent of new vehicle sales in the US in 1998 – and sell the dirtiest vehicles. The Big Three are the worst polluters by any measure. Over the next decade, smog-forming pollution from cars and trucks is expected to diminish gradually as tougher standards take effect. But carbon dioxide emissions – the principal heat-trapping gas causing global warming – will continue to rise sharply unless further steps are taken.

Carbon pollution is a by-product of gasoline combustion, and vehicles that guzzle the most gas are the ones that pump the most carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Ten years of stagnant fuel economy standards, a gaping regulatory loophole allowing light trucks to consume one-third more gas than cars (adding at least 237 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions to our air each year), and booming sales of light trucks have all combined to drop US fuel economy to its lowest level since 1980.

What’s needed now is swift and concrete action by the three domestic automakers to boost the fuel efficiency of their trucks. This alone would yield enormous reductions in US global warming emissions. Most important, the automakers can do it – off-the-shelf technologies already exist that can make SUVs and other light trucks as clean and fuel efficient as cars.

SUVs degrade domestic automakers’ rankings.

High sales of light trucks, including sport utilities, minivans, and pickup trucks, drag domestic automakers into the “worst polluters” category. Although new regulations announced by EPA in December 1999 will require SUVs, pickups, and minivans to eventually meet the same tailpipe standards as cars, it will be almost a decade before they are fully phased in. Meanwhile, light trucks continue to run much dirtier than cars.

Ford’s commitments will improve its ranking only slightly.

In 1999, Ford announced that nearly all of its SUVs, pickups, and minivans would meet low-emissions-vehicle (LEV) standards for light trucks starting in 2000, and that fuel economy would be improved by 5 percent for each vehicle it redesigns. Had these commitments been in effect in 1998, Ford’s new vehicles would have cut their emissions of smog-forming pollutants by 30 percent. Yet, because Ford’s light trucks are saddled with the poorest fuel economy in the industry (see Fleet Breakdown), the net improvement in Ford’s overall ranking would have amounted to just one position.

Ford has the technology to jump to the second-best position in the rankings. By building light trucks that match the fuel efficiency of cars and designing all of its vehicles to meet LEV passenger vehicle standards, Ford would come closer to fulfilling the promise of its chairman, Bill Clay Ford Jr., to become the environmental automaker.

Fuel-efficient, low-emissions vehicles secure Honda’s ranking.

By implementing gas-saving technologies and reducing emissions below required levels, Honda produces vehicles with the best environmental performance in today’s market. Since 1998, Honda has built most of its Accords and Civics to meet California’s LEV standard, which is 57 percent more stringent than EPA’s current standard. At the same time, Honda leads other auto manufacturers in fuel efficiency, with cars that average an industry-best of 31.8 miles per gallon. In addition, Honda sells fewer SUVs and light trucks than other automakers, and those it does sell use less fuel and run cleaner than those of competing brands.

Source: Nucleus Spring 2000, a quarterly publication of The Union of Concerned Scientists.