Concepts Dominated by Hybrid and Electric Vehicles

Nissan Leaf Takes Top Spot in Concept Awards

The 2010 North American Concept Vehicle Awards were 'dominated' by hybrid and electric cars. The Nissan Leaf, Audi E-tron and BMW Vision EfficientDynamics won the awards.

No US automaker, who were too busy dealing with bankruptcy last year, won any of the awards. The number of awards were dropped from 5 to 3 for the same reason.

Despite that, these awards are a good indicator of how automakers are thinking about cars right now. The emphasis on fuel efficiency in law and in public awareness are pushing automakers (if they can do so) to build more electric based vehicles. It's also a good indicator of what automakers think they can do right now to increase their mpgs. Anything they can't do today they weren't about to build a concept around last year.