The EPA this year evaluated 110 cars and 12 motorcycles certificated as “green” vehicles and picked the seven cars and six motorcycles that had the lowest emissions, in a bid to provide a greener choice for consumers, EPA officials said.

Three out of the seven green cars —including one hybrid and six conventional ones — were manufactured in Taiwan, the EPA noted.

The cars selected by the EPA included the Smart 1.0, Toyota Prius (hybrid) and Suzuki SX4 1.6, while the Kymco GP 125, Kymco SR G5 125, Yamaha New Vino 50 were among the winning motorcycles.

The vehicles were evaluated in the areas of exhaust pollution, noise pollution and fuel consumption.

In picking the winning cars, the requirements were that the exhaust pollution level should meet the standards of the Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle regulations adopted in California in the United States, meaning that emissions should be less than 10 percent of an equivalent ordinary vehicle.

The acceleration noise should not exceed 74 decibels, and stationary noise 96 decibel, the EPA determined.

A sales representative forecast that while the price of green vehicles remained high, the trend in that direction was inevitable.

“Green vehicles still have a low market share because they are relatively more expensive than other vehicles,“ said Abe Liu, a salesman for green motorcycles who was at Wednesday’spress conference. However the use of green vehicles in Taiwan will become a trend in the future, he added.

The EPA plans to impose “fifth period control standards” on vehicles in 2009, which would mean stricter pollution controls.

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