2014 Chevy Cruze Helps Chevrolet Shine as a Best Green Brand

Thanks to success of higher-efficiency small cars like the 2014 Chevy Cruze—as well as the relatively low environmental impact of the facilities producing them—Chevrolet recently made its first appearance among Interbrand's annual list of top 50 Best Global Green Brands. Chevrolet was ranked no. 32 in the 2014 report, which actually features quite a few entries from the auto industry. In fact, it was Ford that was this year's overall leader, with the list including:

1. Ford

2. Toyota

3. Honda

4. Volvo

13. BMW

16. Volkswagen

24. Mercedes-Benz

32. Chevrolet

35. Kia

40. Hyundai

Still, Chevrolet earned some strong praise in the report. For example, Interbrand editors recognized that: “GM and, with it, Chevrolet, is clearly committed to creating brand value through an improvement in the brand's sustainable performance ... sustainability at GM is integral to policies, initiatives and efforts across the entire company."

On Chevrolet's part, Alan Batey, General Motors senior vice president for Global Chevrolet, added: “People want to buy fuel-efficient cars from companies that share their social and environmental values. Chevrolet is engineering innovative technologies into all of our vehicles to improve fuel economy, and our customer-driven sustainability philosophy is driving many new customers to our dealerships.”

But as mentioned, it also helps that the vehicles they find there are increasingly efficient. Consider the 2014 Chevy Cruze: The entry model opens with EPA grades of 22 mpg city/35 mpg highway/27 mpg combined, with an automatic transmission, but dealers then offer three increasingly more efficient versions with alternative engine choices. The Cruze ups the ante to 26 mpg city/38 mpg highway/30 mpg combined with its potent 1.4-liter turbo engine, achieves an EPA line of 26/39/31 in its Eco configuration and, with a turbocharged clean-diesel powerplant, tops out at 27/46/33.

And remember, those numbers are all for automatically transmissioned versions of the 2014 Chevy Cruze. Folks who prefer a DIY approach to shifting can see notable bumps in fuel-economy for both the entry Cruze and the Cruze Eco.

So it's unsurprising that the 2014 Chevy Cruze posted a 40.5 percent jump in sales volume in May, when it delivered 32,393 units and drove its year-to-date numbers up to 119,330 sales—representing an 18.4 percent surge in demand that was far ahead of rivals from Ford, Honda, Toyota, Dodge, Kia and Hyundai.