Find out the most economical cars to own and run. We list the most efficient cars for fuel and factor in price, depreciation, insurance & maintenance costs to determine the best economy cars.



Supercars are racing to be efficient cars

Even supercar makers it seems are concerned about potential falls in sales if they don't become greener than they currently are. Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini are all investing lots of time and money into making more efficient cars in order not to lose favour with their customers. They also have a lot of work to do to meet strict new CO2 regulations being introduced in Europe in 2014 and the U.S. in 2016. Supercars are among the biggest culprits for bad fuel economy. The Lamborghini Murcielago for instance uses fuel about six times as quickly as a Smart Car!

Lamborghini have committed to reducing their vehicles carbon dioxide emissions by 35% by 2012. However they don't yet have a clear vision on how they're going to achieve this. They just say that they're looking into a variety of fuel saving options such as hybrids, biofuels, and stop start technology. More certain is the fact that they will reduce vehicle weight and develop their existing petrol engines into more fuel-efficient engines. Lamborghini have allocated around U.S$50 million over the next 5 years to develop more efficient cars.

Ferrari appear to be further down the road in their plans to produce more economical cars. They are already testing a hybrid engine in their 599 coupe and hope to have a hybrid supercar for sale by 2015. They've currently allocated half of their total research budget to making their cars kinder to the environment.

Porsche have announced they will be selling economical hybrid cars from 2011, although it'll only be hybrid versions of the Cayenne SUV and Panamera sedan. They have no plans to make a hybrid 911, which is their flagship sports car.

Interestingly, both Ferrari and Porsche have said they will not make electric cars because of the loss of engine noise and exhaust note. If electric sportscars take off in the kind of way some people are predicting I'd be surprised if they don't go back on this, otherwise they'd be closing the door on a potentially large future segment of the market, while their existing segment could be dwindling.

Its strange. Ten years ago I never thought we'd soon be discussing efficient sports cars! Things are changing very quickly in the world of motoring which makes for an extremely exciting time.


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