And the green car of the year award goes to Volvo S40 DRIVe

The Volvo S40 1.6D DRIVe has been named the 2009 Green Car of the Year at this year’s What Car? Green Car Awards. On Monday night in the London City Hall the award was handed over by Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, to the car featuring the new Start/Stop technology.

In the annual award ceremony from What Car?, Britain's biggest consumer automotive magazine and car buyer's guide, the Volvo S40 DRIVe  got the top spot in the Small Family Category beating the BMW 118d and the Renault Megane. But success didn’t stop here as it was awarded the overall What Car? Green Car of the Year title, stepping ahead of other category winners such as the Audi A8 and MINI Cooper S.

The S40 DRIVe offers exceptionally low CO₂ emissions of just 104g/km and fuel consumption of just 3.9 litres per 100 kilometres and for Steve Fowler, What Car?’s editor it’s “one seriously appealing eco-friendly car. Its low emissions don't come at the expense of quality, safety or driver enjoyment and its great value, too. It's everything we look for in a Green Car of the Year."

After receiving the award Stuart Kerr, Volvo's Regional President of Europe said talked about Volvo’s commitment to its environmental activities and the work that has been done to reduce the carbon footprint on all the brand’s cars.

As for the DRIVe range, Kerr believes that its launch “enables Volvo to offer mid-sized cars with the same fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions as competitor's small cars. For customers, this means that they don't have to compromise on anything when they choose a Volvo. This highly important award is recognition of Volvo's desire to build the most fuel efficient cars possible

What is the Start/Stop technology?

Start/Stop is a mechanism introduced in Volvo’s cars that switches off the engine when the driver puts the gear lever into neutral and releases the clutch while at a standstill. The engine starts up again when the driver presses the clutch. This technology reduces CO₂ emissions to 104 g/km and also monitors the comfort levels in the cabin and automatically reactivates the air conditioning if, for instance, there is an increase of temperature in the passenger compartment.