Edmunds.com and amesaward.com Announce The Most Environmentally Sensitive 2001 Model Year Vehicles
9 November 2000
Edmunds.com and amesaward.com Announce The Most Environmentally Sensitive 2001 Model Year Vehicles
SANTA MONICA, Calif., and NOVI, Mich., Nov. 9 In a move
that accelerates a market based initiative to improve the environment,
Edmunds.com (http://www.edmunds.com ), the Web's leading consumer resource for
unbiased automotive information and amesaward.com (http://www.amesaward.com ), the
Internet's authority on automotive environmental performance, jointly
announced the winners of the 2001 model year Automotive Market Environmental
Sensitivity (AMES) Awards(TM).
"The AMES Awards help educate consumers regarding environmentally friendly
vehicles, and potentially influence automotive purchase decisions," said Peter
Steinlauf, President and CEO of Edmunds.com. "Edmunds believes its visitors
will value the addition of this information to its array of car shoppers'
resources."
Amesaward.com President & CEO, William Mattick, said, "We are delighted to
jointly announce the 2001 AMES Award winners with edmunds.com. We share
common values in our approach to providing unbiased automotive information.
An award format is an easy and familiar means for consumers to use in
comparing similar vehicles."
Using a patent-pending business process, amesaward.com has developed
environmental ratings of all 2001 model year vehicles. A "Best" AMES Award is
presented to the top performer in each of eight car and seven light-truck
vehicle utility classes. Brand/models that are in the upper quartile of
performance in each class earn a "Preferred" AMES Award.
The 2001 AMES "Best" Award winners are:
CAR
Subcompact: Toyota Prius Premium: Infiniti G20
Compact: VW Passat Luxury: Mercedes E-Class
Mid-size: Honda Accord Sporty: Toyota Solara
Full-size: Toyota Avalon Sports Car: Toyota MR2
LIGHT TRUCK
Minivan: Ford Windstar Compact SUV: Toyota RAV4
Full-size Van: Ford E150/E250 Mid-size SUV: Acura MDX
Compact Pickup: GMC Sonoma Full-size SUV: Mercedes ML-Class
Full-size Pickup: Ford F-150
Thirty-nine (39) AMES "Preferred" Award winners, representing the upper
quartile of environmental performance in each vehicle class, were also named.
Complete results are available on the Internet at http://www.edmunds.com or
http://www.amesaward.com .
In the car segment Toyota brand/models won the most AMES Awards (9), Honda
was second (6), Ford placed third (5), General Motors was fourth (4) and
DaimlerChrysler fifth (3).
In the light truck segment, General Motors brand/models garnered the most
Awards (6), Ford was second (4), Toyota third (2) and seven manufacturers tied
for fifth (1).
David Cole, Director of Automotive Research at the Environmental Research
Institute of Michigan said, "The AMES Award initiative is an excellent vehicle
for consumers to improve air quality and reduce the threat of climate change
by factoring the environmental performance of cars and light trucks into their
automotive purchase decision. Using a market based, participation approach to
improving the environment is an idea whose time has come."
General Motors' Vice President and Chief Environmental Officer, Dennis R.
Minano commenting on the ten (10) AMES Awards won by GM brands said, "General
Motors always appreciates being recognized for the value of our vehicles --
environmental, safety, performance, utility or otherwise."
In reflecting on Honda's AMES Awards, Tom Elliott, Executive Vice
President of Automotive Operations said, "It is important that vehicles not
only be environmentally sensitive, they must also meet the needs of our
customers. We're especially proud that the Honda Accord, one of the best
selling cars in America, and the all new Acura MDX in the booming sport
utility segment were recognized as Best-in-Class. It's also the reason about
85 percent of all Acura and Honda products have a Low Emission Vehicle (LEV)
rating or better."
Steven Keyes, Volkswagen of America Director of Corporate Communications
said, "Volkswagen of America is honored that the Passat and Cabrio have been
selected as winners in the second annual competition for the Automotive Market
Environmental Sensitivity Awards. Although Volkswagen will naturally maintain
its high standards of quality, reliability, and environmental acceptability,
there is no denying that an important area of future development work will
continue to be the reduction of fuel consumption and emissions."
According to Mattick, for the 2001 model year, if consumers buy either a
"Best" or "Preferred" AMES Award winner instead of non-winning brand/model,
the impact of vehicles on the environment would be significantly reduced. On
an annual basis, emissions of volatile organic compounds could be reduced by
14%, emissions of oxides of nitrogen lowered by 17% and there would be a
reduction of 17 billion pounds of the climate changing greenhouse gas, carbon
dioxide, in the atmosphere.
Larry Ranka, amesaward.com Executive Vice President & CCO, commenting on
large cars and light trucks being named AMES Awards winners said, "It makes
sense that some would be better environmental performers than others." He
added, "With over 8 million of these products sold annually, you can make a
significant impact on the environment if you can identify to consumers the
more environmentally sensitive brand/models."
About amesaward.com
Headquartered in Novi, MI, amesaward.com (http://www.amesaward.com ) is the
Internet's authority on automotive environmental performance. Founded in
1999, the privately held company uses a patent-pending business process to
turn the highly technical data that relates to the environmental performance
of a vehicle into a consumer-usable form. And it does it with the utmost
objectivity and integrity. The AMES Awards are the first environmental
performance indicators at the industry compatible brand/model level.
Brand/model, in the automotive market, is the way consumers become aware of
and consider vehicles and manufacturers advertise and sell vehicles.
Moreover, the AMES Award is the basis of a market-based system to help sustain
the environment and it may serve as an alternative to future emission and fuel
economy regulation. The Awards are a true win-win proposition that provides
consumers with the ability to lessen the effect of vehicles on the environment
and manufacturers with the opportunity gain market share and increased profits
by promoting and advertising their Award winning products.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, Edmunds.com is the Internet's pioneer
and leader in providing free, third party automotive information, tools and
services for consumers. Edmunds.com empowers, educates, and engages visitors
by providing them with straightforward information on key aspects of buying,
selling, and owning a vehicle. Users are provided automobile pricing data,
extensive automobile reviews, consumer information, safety updates, incentive
and rebate news, expert analysis of developments in the automotive world, and
the Town Hall, an interactive community of more than 500,000 active members.
Edmunds.com was ranked number one in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites as
reported by The Wall Street Journal, rated number one automotive and second
overall web site in the Dialscore loyalty study above Yahoo!, Amazon and
Mapquest, was named as one of Yahoo! Internet Life's 50 Most Incredibly Useful
Sites, one of Money's 50 Most Useful Financial Websites, and is regularly
mentioned as a valuable resource in these and other publications.