Sierra Club, Blazing a New Trail, Gives Seal of Approval to Fuel-Efficient Honda

“Man bites dog” is no news in these days of on-camera freeway chases and videotaped airplane crashes. And after the nonevents of Jan. 1, even warnings that the end is near will draw yawns.

But upsets still happen: And on Friday, about 10:15 a.m., there was a big one.

The Sierra Club, one of the nation’s premier environmental groups and a harsh critic of the automobile industry, broke a 108-year tradition of refusing to lend its name to commercial products.

It issued its first-ever endorsement.

And it wasn’t for an energy-saving lightbulb or an oil-slick-eating enzyme.

It was for a car.

Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope handed the club’s inaugural Excellence in Environmental Engineering Award to the Honda Insight, a 70-mile-per-gallon, gas-electric hybrid coupe, during a press conference at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show.

Pope said in an interview that directors of the club voted in November to issue the award “because the industry is finally moving to produce vehicles that represent a major step forward in improving the environment.”

The Insight, from Honda Motor Co. of Japan, was selected, Pope said, because it is the first hybrid to market in the United States. The two-seater, priced at about $20,000, went on sale Dec. 15; Honda expects to sell about 4,000 of them this year, mostly in California.

Sierra Club directors have authorized issuing the award for just three years, Pope said. Barring an unexpected development in alternative-fuel systems, the Prius from Honda archrival Toyota Motor Corp. is the likely candidate for the second year’s plaque. The five-passenger, 60-mpg, gas-electric sedan will go on sale later this year.