AutoMK.com

J.D. Power amp; Associates has gone a little green on us with its newest study entitled the Automotive Environmental Index contained in this year's Alternative Powertrain Study. JD created the index of 30 vehicles using publicly available information from the EPA, as well as "voice-of-the-customer" data related to fuel economy, air pollution and green house gases for vehicles produced in 2006.

automk has already picked the study apart here, so we'll just pull some interesting points out there.

• 8 vehicles out of the top 30 are hybrids
• No diesels made the top 30
• VW is the highest ranking nameplate and had 3 models in the top 30
• Honda brands had 5 models in the top 30, Toyota 6
• Ford brands had 6 models in the top 30, GM 3 and Chrysler 0
• At number 4, Saturn is the highest ranking domestic nameplate

The study also revealed some interesting statistics about how consumers view green cars in the marketplace. Check this out: only 23 percent of consumers say they will only consider gasoline power for their next vehicle. Fifty-seven percent will consider hybrids, 49 percent will consider E85 and just 12 percent diesel. Those numbers change dramatically, as well, when broken down by age group.

JD Power estimates that hybrid and diesel market share will both grow from their levels of 1.2 and 3.2 percent in 2005 to 1.6 and 3.6 percent in 2006, and eventually grow to 5 and 9 percent in 2013.

Check out all of the Top 30 AEI vehicles and the nameplate rankings after the jump.

[Source: JD Power via automk]