The accompanying table (click to enlarge) includes 38 companies which are equal-weight components in the ETF Innovators Global Personal Transportation Index, which includes companies with market caps of at least $150M. The index declined by over 51% in the past year compared to declines of about 37% for the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY), 36% for the Consumer Discretionary Sector SPDR (XLY), and 35% for the PowerShares Consumer Goods ETF (PRFG).

The companies are listed in descending order by market cap, with Toyota Motor (TM) recently eclipsing Volkswagen (VLKAY) for the largest market cap among the auto makers. Beyond the auto makers, the index also includes recreational vehicle makers such as Polaris (PII) + Winnebago (WGO), truck makers such as Navistar (NAV) + Paccar (PCAR), and motorcycle makers such as Harley Davidson (HOG) + Yamaha (YAMHF).

Today, President Obama urged the Environmental Protection Agency to impose more stringent emission standards for auto makers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the new administration plans to establish new fuel efficiency standards for vehicles, starting with the 2011 model year.

The consulting firm IHS Global Insight estimates that the green vehicle upgrades may add as much as $2,000-$10,000 to sticker prices for consumers while the Natural Resources Defense Council estimates savings of just $1,000-$2,000 in lifetime fuel costs. Auto makers are scrambling to develop electric cars and Ford Motor (F) expects to introduce its “EcoBoost” engines to the market by 2013 to boost fuel efficiency by 20%.