Top automakers reduce vehicle emissions

The eight bestselling automakers in the United States all reduced greenhouse gas and smog-forming emissions in 2013 compared with 2008, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) said Tuesday.

The UCS’s report on automakers’ average fleets found that the Hyundai Motor Group, which sells Hyundai and Kia brands, was the “greenest automaker” in the 2013 model year, based on the smog and greenhouse emissions. It was the sixth such report from UCS since 1998, and Honda Motor Co. had received the top award in every previous study.

“For too many years, clean car standards were stagnant and automakers were more likely to promote extra cup holders instead of fuel economy,” Dave Cooke, a vehicles analyst at the UCS, said in a statement. “Now, consumers are demanding cars that go further on a gallon of gas and new standards are pushing the automakers to deliver.”

The UCS largely credited stricter limits on greenhouse gas and smog emissions from the Environmental Protection Agency with the pollution reductions.

On average, cars from the top eight automakers averaged 461 carbon dioxide-equivalent grams of greenhouse gases per mile and 0.529 grams of smog-forming emissions, the UCS said.

Honda took second-place spot in the 2013 report. Ford Motor Co. was the best United States-based automaker, although Ford, General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group were the worst of the top eight.