500 Blackjack cements Fiat's rating as Europe's greenest car brand

The Fiat 500 BlackJack. Photo / Supplied

Fiat is the greenest car brand in Europe - and it is celebrating its rating with another special edition model, a 500 called Blackjack.

The Italian carmaker has registered the lowest average CO2 exhaust emissions across its fleet, heading the top 10 cleanest brands for the second year in a row.

Global automotive research company Jato said Fiat recorded 123.5 grams of CO2 per kilometre for the first six months of 2010 to head Toyota (128.0gr/km), Peugeot (132.3), Citroen (133.4), Renault (134.6), Ford (137.0), Opel/Vauxhall (141.0), Volkswagen (142.2), Audi (154.2) and BMW (154.5).

Three Fiat models filled the first four places - 500, Panda, Punto - and the carmaker's fleet emissions are now comfortably under the 130gr/km average the European Union wants in place by 2015.

The Fiat Group - Fiat, Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Lancia - also headed other affiliates, recording 126.2gr/km against Toyota-Daihatsu (130.0gr/km), PSA Peugeot-Citroen (132.8), Renault-Nissan (136.7) and Hyundai-Kia (138.3). Almost 60 per cent of new vehicles sold in Europe now carry an emissions rating equal to or lower than 140gr/km, which corresponds to a 6.7 per cent improvement over 2009. At the end of last year - the most recent finding - New Zealand's CO2 fleet average was 204gr/km.

Fiat's TwinAir two-cylinder 900cc petrol engine has helped bring down emissions. The turbocharged 65kW unit is an option in the 500 range in Europe and emits 92gr/km with an automatic gearbox and 95gr/km with a manual unit. Fiat says technology has helped it improve the TwinAir's fuel consumption by 30 per cent while lifting torque at 2000rpm by 25 per cent.

Fiat waved its clean colours earlier this year by building the 500 Pink and now it has come up with Blackjack.

But the matte black 500 is unlikely to make it to New Zealand - only 200 examples have so far been signed off for right-hand-drive production and most are headed for Britain.

Meanwhile, the bragging rights for fuel efficiency among carmakers continues in Europe. A Volkswagen Passat BlueMotion has made the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest distance travelled by a standard production passenger car on a single tank of fuel.

A team from a British newspaper drove from Kent to the south of France and back ... almost. The car ran out of diesel at the port of Calais, with 1526.23 miles (2472.50km) on the clock.