Honda’s CR-Z hybrid named ‘Car of the Year’

Honda’s newest hybrid model, the CR-Z has been been voted Japan’s Car of the Year by a panel of the country’s top motoring journalists.

Priced from £16,999 in the UK, Honda took the award for its sporty coupe model which has been widely praised for showing a fun side to hybrids and matching performance with economy. The world’s first ‘sports hybrid coupe’ wins the 2010-11 award, having narrowly missed out last year to the Toyota Prius.

The model beat off competition from the BMW 5-Series, Jaguar XJ, Mazda Premacy, Suzuki Swift and Volkswagen Polo among others to claim the prize. Launched earlier this year, the CR-Z combines hybrid technology and stop-start function to achieve impressive fuel economy of 56.5 mpg on a combined cycle while producing just 117g/km of CO2.

Takanobu Ito, President of Honda commented: "We are very proud that the CR-Z has been selected from the strong contenders of new models as the Car of the Year Japan 2010-2011.

“This award shows that the public has accepted Honda’s aspiration to supply exceptional environmental performance in a fun-to-drive hybrid car at an affordable price, as well as Honda’s desire to spread the joy of owning and driving a car."

Source;
http://www.thegreencarwebsite.co.uk/blog/index.php/2010/11/11/hondas-cr-z-hybrid-named-car-of-the-year/