(Fri 21 Mar 08)

The BMW 118d has been named World Green Car of 2008 at the New York Show, beating the smart fortwo cdi and the Volkswagen Passat 1.9 TDI.

Manual-gearbox versions of the 118d have an official combined fuel economy figure of 62.8mpg, equating to 119g/km and putting the car in Band B of the current Vehicle Excise Duty system. It does this thanks to a range of EfficientDynamics technology including brake energy regeneration, auto stop/start and power-saving electric steering assistance.

"BMW is very excited that the BMW 118d with EfficientDynamics won the World Green Car title," says BMW of North America Chairman and CEO Tom Purves. "The measures that we've implemented within our EfficientDynamics strategy into every BMW mean that we're able to provide customers with the driving pleasure they expect from a BMW, while still meeting the stringent requirements for fuel-efficiency and low emissions."

(Note: in May 2007 we published a road test of the 118d SE three-door which included the slightly inferior economy and CO2 figures supplied by BMW at the time. BMW issued the figures quoted above a month later.)

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