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The Chevrolet Volt wins Green Car of the Year 2016

The second-generation plug-in hybrid claimed top honors at Los Angeles, besting cars wielding several different powertrain types.

Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
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2016 Chevrolet Volt
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2016 Chevrolet Volt

The first-generation Volt won Green Car of the Year back in 2011.

 Josh Miller/CNET

LOS ANGELES -- The votes have been tallied, and the all-new Chevrolet Volt has emerged as 2016 Green Car of the Year.

The award is given out every year at the Los Angeles Auto Show by a panel of judges, most of who are notable leaders in the environmental industry. Jay Leno is also part of the group, which whittles its list down to five finalists before picking the overall victor.

This year, the five finalists featured three different powertrain options. The plug-in hybrid Volt bested Audi's A3 e-tron and Hyundai Sonata plug-ins, the Toyota Prius hybrid and the gas-powered Honda Civic. Diesels were, unsurprisingly, absent from the contestants this year.

You'll notice that all the cars on the list are relatively affordable models -- the award is only given to cars that sell in numbers that could make an appreciable difference on the environment. Hybrid hypercars like the Porsche 918 Spyder are too expensive and too small-batch to make a dent in global emissions figures.