Car manufacturers bank on smaller cars with green credentials to bring back the good times

Beat the credit crunch. Save the Planet. Buy a smaller car with low CO2 emissions. 

This seemed to be the message from large parts of the Paris Motor Show.

The list of manufacturers was impressive: Nissan,Toyota,Vauxhall,Volvo,Peugeot,Fiat, and so on. Ford are also heavily following this trend towards  smaller and greener cars. The Green Car Guide asks: Which best selling five-seat small family car can travel 65 on one gallon,can handle corners in an enjoyable way,yet costs less than #17,000? That'll be the the Ford Focus ECOnetic then.

You can't argue with one of the UK's bestselling cars. Especially in its low emission ECOnetic form. All the characteristics of the Ford Focus (it was first launched in 1998 ) are still there, and you get emissions of just 115g/km. The Model/Engine size: 1.6 16v TDCi 108 bhp ECOnetic, a diesel,offers fuel economy on the combined cycle of 65.7 mpg.

You can see a fuller report on the Focus at the Green Car Guide