The Toyota Prius has caught up with VW in achieving five stars under Ecotest. Earlier this year the VW Passat became the first car to obtain a five star rating for low emissions and pollutant levels. Now the Toyota Prius - which had been knocked off its top ranking by VW - has finally secured the top rating after falling just short in previous testing. In testing during August 2009, the Toyota 1.8 Hybrid gained five stars and 92 points with a CO2 rating of 42 points and a pollutant rating of 50. These match the scores achieved by VW. The other five star vehicle is the Honda Insight. At the other end of the table, the Ford Focus performs particularly badly. It achieved just two stars with 1 point for C02 emissions at 235.8 g/km.
As of September 2009, Ecotest also now has a revised assessment protocol. It has been modified to take account of new developments particularly with measuring hybrid vehicles.