Auckland is staking its claim for a world first but it is something many ratepayers will not be happy about.
Mayor John Banks is being accused of doing a u-turn in the choice of mayoral car.
Gone is his predecessor's environmentally friendly model in favour of a high performance, luxury replacement.
Former mayor Dick Hubbard chose a environmentally-friendly Prius to make a statement - we can't go on pumping our cities full of greenhouse gases.
But now it's been sold off and replaced with a Holden Calais.
"Auckland might take the record as the only city that's actually sold a hybrid car and gone back to conventional cars," says Hubbard.
New mayor Banks prefers something a little racier. He scrapped the Prius in favour of high performance and luxury. But these come at a cost.
"Aukland struggles with its air quality and the car he is driving produces at least twice as much noxious emissions as one of these (Prius models)," says Stephen Bollard of the Clean Green Car Company.
A Calais also uses at least twice as much fuel as a Prius.
John Banks wasn't available for an interview but his office told 3 News it was a question of space. He needs a larger car to fit his family and he says the Prius just did not measure up.
"If he was getting a people mover and needed to take more than 4 or 5 people around that might have some validity. But I don't think realistically that there's any difference between this (Prius) and a Holden as far as how many people it can carry around," says Bollard.
"It's just a total Luddite reaction, it's very, very sad. It's a total abdication of mayoral responsibilities," says Hubbard.
A handful of New Zealand mayors now drive hybrid cars.
Auckland's mayoral car comes up for renewal every 3 years. Banks got rid of his Prius six months early, just before his counterpart in Napier bought one.