Volkswagen diesel car wins ”Green Car of the Year”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A clean-burning diesel sedan, Volkswagen AG’s Jetta TDI, won the “Green Car of the Year” award at the Los Angeles auto show on Thursday, the first time a diesel-powered car has taken the industry’s top environmental honor.

“This signals that clean diesel has arrived,” said Ron Cogan, editor of Green Car Journal, the trade magazine that awards the prize.

Diesel, a conventional combustion approach long favored by Europeans, has been making inroads into the U.S. market as a here-and-now option to make engines run more economically and pollute less.

The use of diesel for passenger cars had long been stalled in the United States because of unacceptably high tailpipe emissions, but advanced technology has allowed so-called clean diesel vehicles to filter out more pollutants and for the first time meet smog pollution laws in all states.

Reuters