Frankfurt: what does green really mean? - Introduction

Compared to the heady combination of hysteria and light shows surrounding some of the car launches at the Frankfurt motor show, Toyota's celebration of 10 years of hybrid technology was a relatively understated affair.

While every other cover that was pulled off a car at the show seemed to herald the arrival of another hybrid concept car, many of which came with no more than vague mentions of potential production dates, Toyota was celebrating sales of one million hybrid-engined cars over the past ten years.

It has achieved that success in the face of considerable derision, too, as sniffy rivals have wasted no time in suggesting that finely tuned turbodiesels can produce similar emission figures to hybrid systems, without the development costs.

So if the Frankfurt motor show highlighted one thing, it's that green technology is now at the forefront of everyone's thinking.