The sold-out Honda Civic GX and the Volkswagen Touareg both took top honors in annual lists announced today by the American Council for an energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The trouble for Volkswagen is that their vehicle topped the list of 2008's meanest vehicles while the Honda was named the greenest vehicle of 2008 (for the fifth year in a row, mind you). Honda and Toyota each scored four of the vehicles on the Top 12 list, with Smart, Mini, Nissan and Ford each netting one. Last year, no American cars were present on the green list.

On the mean side of things we find, mostly, a list of toys for rich people. I mean, how much environmental damage do all the Bugatti Veyrons (#2 on the list) in the world do? Taking sales figures into account would make ACEEE's lists (because the same can be said for the GX) a much more reasonable definition of which cars are mean and which ones are mean. AFAIK, the only mean vehicles with any sort of serious sales are the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the GMC Yukon 2500 and the Hummer H2.

This is the eleventh year for ACEEE's green and mean lists. Vehicles are rated on emissions and MPG ratings. Find the full lists and more details after the jump.