External environmental awards
The Volkswagen Group’s models and its brands received numerous awards for environmentally friendly features in 2016. Here are some examples:
Vehicles from the Passenger Cars brand received top marks for energy efficiency in a test conducted by Brazil’s “Quatro Rodas” magazine. Of all the automobiles with petrol-powered drives, the speed up! was the most fuel-efficient, followed by the take up! and the Fox BlueMotion. The new Gol Comfortline with its 1.0 MPI engine and the Audi A1 Sport 1.4 TFSI also made the list of the most fuel-efficient vehicles.
In the China Eco-Car Assessment Program (C-ECAP), the Golf TSI was awarded a platinum medal and the ŠKODA Octavia 1.4 TSI DSG and the Volkswagen Lamando 230 TSI with DSG were awarded gold medals. The vehicles were rated in six categories, including energy savings and the recycling rate.
The eco up! and its sisters Mii from SEAT and Citigo from ŠKODA repeated earlier success by winning in the environmentally friendly car list (Switzerland). The Audi A3 TFSI g-tron and the Golf TGI, which came second and third, rounded off the successful performance of the Group’s efficient natural gas models in the top ten.
The editorial team from Engadget, a leading online technology magazine in the United States, conferred on the BUDD-e this year’s “Best of CES” award in the Best Innovation category. Special mention was made of the vehicle’s range and quick charging mode. The online guide SlashGear, which mainly rates smartphones, cars, computers and digital life, also named the BUDD-e the overall winner.
In the competition organized by Verkehrsrundschau and Trucker magazines, the Volkswagen Caddy came out on top among the vans, receiving the “Green Van 2016” award. The Caddy delivered the best overall result regarding fuel consumption, payload and load capacity. The EfficientLine 2 fuel-efficient package for the MAN TGX received the “Green Truck Innovation” accolade for proven reduction of emissions in air pollutants, greenhouse gases and noise. Scania received the “Green Truck Future Innovation 2016” environmental award in the category of promising innovations for its hybrid module for distribution trucks. The 235 kW (320 PS) hybrid truck achieves fuel savings of up to 18% compared with trucks run solely on diesel. It can operate solely in electric mode, or the electric power can be combined with pure biodiesel.