Green is the new Pink. Celebrity Rides

They say green is the new pink, or black, whatever. You can never be cool unless you go green. That's the mantra that Hollywood celebrities have been dishing out over the last few years. It has gotten more intense lately with Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore upping their ante on their climate change evangelical preaching. In the roaring 90s fueled by the dot com boom and the rise of a new generation of R&B stars from the late 90s; pimped up Bentleys, Hummers and Cadillac Escalade SUVs were the rage to shout showbiz money. But in the period of time just after 2005, about middle of our decade in the new century, something dramatic happened. Being green is in. The coolest bag in Hollywood is not any Prada, Gucci or Coach, but one those upcoming eco-friendly labels. The coolest jeans is no longer Levis, but one those green labels that uses minimal water with fabric made from organically grown cotton. Heck there is even a site called EcoRazzi.com!

Below are some of the rides favoured by today's celebrities. Whether or not such self-righteous behaviour is hypocritical or not is besides the point of this entry. Neither am I going into the debate of alternative energy. This is just a sampling of the cars that are deemed "fashionable" enough by today's idols of fashion and style.

Images are courtesy of paparazzinotebook.com.

Toyota Prius Hybrid
The first generation Prius was released in 1997 but it was only exported to US and Europe in 2000. Sales were lacklustre at first, but then Leonardo DiCaprio bought one from a Hollywood dealer, followed by Cameron Diaz. Soon, paparazzis were shooting photos of these two stars driving up and down Hollywood in this quirky little car. At the 2003 Academy Awards, 5 units of Prius were loaned to a Californian public relations agency to ferry among others, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart. Soon, photos of Academy Awards stars stepping out of the Prius were printed in glossy gossip magazines all over the world. The rest they say is history.










Leonardo DiCaprio
Titanic
The Beach
Blood Diamond
















Cameron Diaz
Charlie's Angels
What Happens in Vegas
There's Something About Mary










Julia Roberts
Erin Brockovich
Ocean's Twelve
Notting Hill










Sting










Kirsten Dunst
Spider-Man 3
The Virgin Suicides
Elizabethtown










Jessica Alba
Never Been Kissed
Sin City
Into the Blue












Adrian Grenier
The Devil Wears Prada
A Perfect Fit
Entourage











Ken Livingstone
Mayor of London


Toyota Camry Hybrid
A little less quirky hybrid compared to the Prius









Vanessa Hudgens
High School Musical




Lexus Hybrid

Paul McCartney

Paul is often seen travelling in his Lexus RX400h. Early this year, as a token of appreciation for his efforts to promote hybrid vehicle technology, TMC (Toyota Motor Corp.) gave a Lexus LS 600h hybrid as a gift to him. Only problem was, instead of putting the car on a ship, they loaded it onto a Korean Air flight and flew it from Japan to UK. In effect, the carbon emission generated from the airplane flight is equivalent to driving the LS600h around the world 6 times. A similar ship travel would generate 95 times less CO2 compared to the airplane. Paul was said to be horrified upon learning the delivery method, it was not known if Paul accepted the gift from TMC.

BMW Hydrogen 7
Debates of viability of hydrogen economy aside, the BMW Hydrogen 7 is the world's first production hydrogen powered vehicle. The V12 powered Hydrogen 7 has a cruising range of 200km on hydrogen and an additional 480km on petrol. The car is not available for sale, but is currently loaned for use by selected individuals in Germany and USA.





Brad Pitt
Ocean's Thirteen
Troy
Meet Joe Black











Angelina Jolie
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Tomb Raider








Edward Norton
The Incredible Hulk
Kingdom of Heaven
The Italian Job









Cate Blanchett
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
The Aviator











Hale Berry
X-Men: The Last Stand
Die Another Day
Monster's Ball








Jason Bateman
The Kingdom
The Break-Up
Starsky & Hutch











Jay Leno
Tonight's Show With Jay Leno









Richard Gere
Pretty Woman
Chicago
Shall We Dance













Kristin Davis
Sex and the City









Monica Belluci
The Passion of the Christ
The Matrix Reloaded
Tears of the Sun













His Serene Highness Prince Albert II
Prince of Monaco



Saab 9-5 BioPower
Debates on the link between rising food prices and bio-fuel aside, flex-fuel vehicles that can run on either bio-fuel (E85 ethanol-petrol blend) or conventional gasoline is the rage in Sweden. Other than Brazil, whose vehicles are all modified to run on sugar-cane derived bio-fuel, Sweden is the leader in adoption of bio-fuel. Swedish carmakers Volvo and Saab sell flexi-fuel models across the range in their domestic market.











Richard Branson
Virgin Group



Mercedes-Benz E280 Bluetec Clean Diesel
By injecting urea into the exhaust gases and employing an army of catalytic converters and particulate filters, Mercedes-Benz Bluetec diesel engines produce far less emission than a conventional diesel or even petrol engine vehicle. Mercedes-Benz calls the process Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR), which is a fancy way of saying mixing urine with exhaust gases. Really I am not kidding you. The car lugs around a tank of urine under its boot.









Alanis Morissette
Uninvited
Thank You



Tesla Roadster Electric Car
It's a two-seater electric powered sports car. Drawing power from its lithium-ion battery pack, the car shoots from 0-100 km/h in 3.9 seconds, that's Porsche 911 territory. It has a maximum speed of 201 km/h and a cruising range of 350km on a single charge. Charging time takes about 3.5 hours.






Matt Damon
The Bourne Ultimatum
Syriana
EuroTrip



Hummer H2H hydrogen powered Hummer.
Mr. Terminator is pushing to build a "hydrogen-highway" in his state of California. Currently California has 23 hydrogen filling stations in operation and 15 is planned to be build by 2010.








Arnold Schwarzenegger
Terminator
Last Action Hero
True Lies




Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel-cell hybrid
Like the BMW Hydrogen 7, Honda's FCX Clarity is not for sale and is only loaned to selected high profile individuals. Due to the high investment required to support a nationwide sales and service network for such low volume vehicles, a full-scale sale is not viable and thus both the BMW and Honda are only available for use by selected celebrities and serviced by a selected number of service centers, of course located around Silvercity and the upper-class neighbourhoods.












Laura Harris
24



I save the best for last.

Bicycle
The only true eco-friendly mode of transport.









Barack Obama
US Presidential candidate hopeful


Related post Come 2009, let the hybrid car wars begin. Will we see more hybrids in Malaysia and Thailand?