Made in Britain

The argument goes that the amount of energy required to design a car, tool up a factory, build the car and then transport it should be added to any calculations of the “greenness” of one vehicle versus another. As if choosing wasn’t hard enough without having to add this into the equation. But if we don’t, we’ll all be driving Jeep Wranglers instead of Prius’s according to research by CNW Marketing Research who suggest that the development of new technologies, testing and then tooling up a factory to produce a new car can outweigh the improved performance. Hence an 18 year old design being greener than a cutting edge hybrid. However, perhaps when short listing, it might be worth considering domestically manufactured vehicles. The quality of British built vehicles has probably never been higher, thanks to the Japanese brands in particular. Not only that, but UK plants are currently building some of the nicest, and most innovative cars to drive available today.

So think British, think Japanese, think German, think Indian, but most of all – think domestic.