Latest Ratings

In 2022 Green NCAP adopted a two-stage testing approach.  Cars, which have performed well in the standard tests of the first stage, qualify for additional robustness testing in the second stage.  Vehicles lacking robustness at the additional tests will lose a part of their score, but their rating will not fall below three stars.
This testing philosophy allows higher scoring vehicles to prove the stability of their performance under more difficult conditions and prefers models with a good and balanced overall-performance.
As the two-stage approach reduced the number of tests required, the relative importance of some of the tests was adapted.

The thresholds for pollutant emissions were updated and the lower rating threshold for energy consumption was lowered from 30 to 20 kWh/100 km, addressing the better performance of newer vehicles and the necessity for higher rating resolution for battery electric vehicles.

While the Clean Air Index, rating the pollutant emissions, and the Energy Efficiency index, representing the energy consumption, continue being assessed on a 'Tank to Wheel' basis, the Greenhouse Gas Index is now considering the sum of tailpipe and upstream emissions. The upstream emissions are related to the processes necessary to supply the energy used by the vehicles. Such processes are e.g., the extraction from raw oil and resources, the construction of refineries and renewable energy power plants, the supply and usage of resources needed for their operation, the appropriation of the necessary filling and charging infrastructure, etc. The upstream greenhouse gas emissions are determined by the method of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based on the average values of the 27 European countries and the United Kingdom.  Green NCAP calls this approach of considering local tailpipe and upstream greenhouse gas emissions 'Well to Wheel+'.

Due to the far-reaching changes in the 2022 rating system, the vehicles’ results have only limited comparability to those from previous years.

Unchanged from 2020

For 2020, the rating now considers the emissions of greenhouse gases, with the addition of a third index. As before, the Clean Air Index indicates how well a car limits the emissions of pollutants – those by-products of the combustion process which are harmful to health – but now also measures ammonia (NH₃) and analyses in more detail the Oxides of Nitrogen. The Energy Efficiency Index signifies how effective the car is at turning its source of energy – be that petrol, diesel, gas or electricity – into movement, and minimising losses. The new Greenhouse Gas Index indicates how well a vehicle limits emissions of those gases which contribute to global warming by measuring the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂), Methane (CH₄) and Nitrous Oxide (N₂O) that are expelled during Green NCAP’s rigorous tests. All three indexes are given equal weight. 2020 ratings should not be compared with those of previous years.