It's December 31, when we like to look back to see which stories were our most popular over the entire year.
Boy, did we get some surprises this year!
Not a single electric-car story cracked the top five, despite the huge traffic we get on plug-in cars in general and particularly many of our Tesla pieces.
In fact, this year's top stories were mostly about diesel engines, and ... trucks.
We did have a roundup of what's known so far about the 2016 Toyota Prius in our list of five, though that's not a lot more than when we wrote it 18 months ago.
Of those five, four were actually published in 2013 (or earlier), though one was significantly updated.
In reverse order, here are the five articles that drew the most traffic on Green Car Reports during 2014.
2015 Audi A3 TDI, New York City, Nov 2014
(5) Our Guide To Every 2014 And 2015 Diesel Car On Sale In The U.S. (updated June 2014)
This was an update on a story we had originally written back in 2012.
In June, we revised it completely to cover the expanded lineup of diesel cars from Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen--and to add new entries from Chevrolet and Jeep as well.
We'll have to revisit it again this coming summer, as we know there will be more diesel vehicles coming. Most of them will be in the SUV category, though, rather than sedans.
2015 Toyota Prius Liftback
(4) All-New 2016 Toyota Prius: What We Know So Far (June 2013)
The Toyota Prius hybrid is a perennial favorite topic for Green Car Reports.
There are huge numbers of Prius loyalists among our readers, and with the current Liftback model in its sixth and final year, interest in the next-generation hybrid is strong.
Unfortunately, we've learned very little new in the past 18 months, aside from recent news that a delay in the launch of the 2016 Prius may be due to last-minute styling updates to make it sportier.
We expect to learn a lot more about the 2016 Toyota Prius next year, though. Watch this space.
2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel, Bear Mountain, May 2014
(3) Diesel Pickup Trucks From Chevy, Ford, Nissan, Ram: Ultimate Guide (Dec 2013)
Our third most-popular article involved diesels just like Number Five, in this case the 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel launched by Chrysler's truck brand.
The piece also covered the future plans for other diesel pickups from Chevy, GMC, and (further down the road) Nissan.
Clearly there's a lot of interest in pickups powered by diesels, which offer better fuel economy, because the diesel Ram 1500 has been so popular that production will be doubled in the coming year.
2015 Ford F-150
(2) 2015 Ford F-150 Gas Mileage: What We Know So Far (Dec 2013)
This one was a huge hit from the moment it was published, and it's continued to gain traffic.
Published a year ago, before any of the fuel-economy ratings were out for any models of the new 2015 Ford F-150, it's now somewhat out of date.
Ford's big gamble on an aluminum cab and pickup bed for its new F-150 pickup truck--its single best-selling vehicle line by far--may require some additional technology before it can equal some of the ratings of competing diesel trucks.
There's a 10-speed automatic transmission coming for the F-150, and Ford may also offer a notably smaller new Ranger pickup, though that's still unconfirmed.
Meanwhile, the inclusion of the F-150 in Green Car Reports proved so controversial to a few readers that we had to explain later that month why we write about full-size pickup trucks at all.
Now, finally, here it is: our single most popular story for the year--the one that got more pageviews in 2014 than any other piece we published ....
AirFlow BulletTruck (Images: AirFlow Truck Company)
(1) Is The BulletTruck What Semis Will Look Like In The Future? (Jan 2014)
Frankly, this one was a total shock to us.
We saw the photos, thought they looked neat, and decided to write a piece about the prototype for a highly aerodynamic semi truck, known as the BulletTruck, produced by the AirFlow Truck Company.
Several hundred thousand pageviews later, it's our Number One story for the year.
Which only goes to prove, we suppose, that a visually striking design that also promises to save a whole lot of fuel is appealing to lots and lots of readers.
Perhaps Toyota was listening when it did that last-minute redesign on the upcoming Prius?
Thank you, as always, for continuing to read Green Car Reports.
And Happy New Year!
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