The Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec today was named 2007 World Green Car. The E320 beat out the BMW Hydrogen 7 and the Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion for the honor. The initial entry list had 14 contenders, including the Saab 9-5 BioPower flex-fuel, Fiat Panda, Citroen C2 Stop & Start and Subaru R1e. The Green Car honor was part of the World Car of the Year award ceremonies held at the New York Auto Show in which the the Lexus LS 460 was given the top honor.

To be eligible for the World Green Car award, the vehicle must be all new or substantially revised and be available for sale in at least one major market during the last calendar year. It must also meet or more of the following "green" criteria:

• Tailpipe emissions equal or better than California SULEV or US EPA Tier 2, Bin 2, or Euro V.
• Fuel consumption equal or lower than 47.6mpg combined
• Use of an advanced power plant technology aimed a specifically increasing environmentally responsibility.

For the Green Car honor, the vehicle may be a prototype with a near-future application provided is has been released for press fleet or individual evaluation.

According to the voters made up of journalists from 22 countries, the E320 Bluetec won the award for diesel re-entry into North America and paving the way for super-clean diesel technology.

My friend John over at Autoblog did a good job of highlighting the fact that the German automakers cleaned up when it comes to the World Car of the Year finalists. Speaking of cleaning up, (haha) a subcategory of the competition offers up some choices of the "World Green Car", also all from Germany. The finalists are... in no particular order...

• BMW Hydrogen 7
• Mercedes-Benz E320 BLUETEC
• Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion
  

Cast your unofficial vote here or submit your own choices in the comments. The cars in the poll only include models that can currently be purchased somewhere, hence no Tesla or ZAP-X.

Which car would you select as World Green COTY?
	BMW Hydrogen 7
	Mercedes-Benz E320 BLUETEC
	Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion
	Smart ForTwo
	Toyota Prius
Free polls from Pollhost.com

[Source: WCOTY.com via Autoblog via Winding Road]