Los Angeles: 2012 Green Car of the Year is the Honda Civic Natural Gas

Filed under: LA Auto Show , Sedan , Honda The 2012 Green Car of the Year award was snagged from the electric and diesel jaws of its competitors by the Honda Civic Natural Gas. In a year full of standard gasoline powertrain alternatives, the Civic beat out the Ford Focus Electric, Mitsubishi i , Toyota Prius V and the Volkswagen Passat TDI. Green Car Journal hands out the award and its rules state that the GCOTY needs to have a “quantifiable environmental achievement,” market significance and “newness.” Any car that has these clearly defined features and is available for sale by January 1, 2012 can be a nominee, and the list of finalists is whittled down by GCJ editors and selected industry and environmental experts. Over the last four years, the GCOTY was won by a hybrid (the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid in 2008), diesels (the Volkswagen Jetta TDI in 2009 and the Audi A3 TDI in 2010) and a plug-in hybrid (the Chevrolet Volt in 2011).

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Los Angeles: 2012 Green Car of the Year is the Honda Civic Natural Gas

Official: Bugatti brings three special Veyron Grand Sports to Dubai

Filed under: Convertible , Performance , Bugatti , Misc. Auto Shows , Middle East , Luxury Production of the original Bugatti Veyron may have drawn to a close, but that doesn’t mean the end of the Veyron altogether. Of the 150 examples of the Grand Sport earmarked for production, only 45 of them have been accounted for. That leaves another – carry the two, divide by the square-root of pi – 105 examples still available for order

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Official: Bugatti brings three special Veyron Grand Sports to Dubai

Report: Ex-DOT head urges Washington to ‘treat diesels fairly’

Filed under: Hybrid , Government/Legal , Technology , Electric , Diesel Now that he’s retired, Norman Mineta – the longest serving U.S. Transportation Secretary in history – is publicly speaking the kind of plain sense you don’t much get from sitting politicians. Or, at least, he’s taking the credit and the heat for it. Mineta released a white paper at a National Press Club that presented the position of the U.S.

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Report: Ex-DOT head urges Washington to ‘treat diesels fairly’

Report: Elon Musk bets Dan Neil $1 million he can get Tesla Model S out on time

Can a million dollars hold Elon Musks’ feet to the fire? That’s the value of a bet that Wall Street Journal auto journalist and all-around interesting guy Dan Neil and the Tesla Motors CEO reportedly have going over the release of the upcoming Model S . According to Green Car Reports , the bet hinges on Neil’s 2009 comment that the Model S is “ambitious” and that Musk’s promised delivery date of late 2012 was, “an audacious timeline that makes many in the car industry roll their eyes.” Musk, also a bit of a boisterous one, apparently emailed Neil in 2009 to say: You wanna bet?

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Report: Elon Musk bets Dan Neil $1 million he can get Tesla Model S out on time

Video: Together at last – Tesla Model S and Roadster hit the road

Filed under: Convertible , Sedan , Performance , Videos , Tesla , Electric Plug your ears and keep your eyes glued to the screen. What we present here is rare footage of a Tesla Model S and a Tesla Roadster side-by-side on a picturesque, chicane-filled road. The music, in typical Tesla fashion, drowns out any automotive noise, including the wondrous whirring that emanates from these magnificent machines as they whiz on down the road. So, here’s what we’d suggest: plug your ears and imagine those sounds echoing off the nearby hills as the Roadster and Model S strut their electric stuff

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Video: Together at last – Tesla Model S and Roadster hit the road

Rumormill: Cadillac Converj gets production green light again?

Filed under: Coupe , Hybrid , Cadillac , Electric , Luxury Unveiled at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show , the Cadillac Converj concept is perhaps General Motors most on-again , off-again vehicle in recent years. Based on the Chevrolet Volt , the Converj is a plug-in hybrid coupe with chiseled lines and a Wreath and Crest badge. This production/non-production saga continues with Green Car Reports claiming “an inside source at General Motors” has confirmed the Converj is back on, meaning Cadillac is gearing up to launch the plug-in hybrid in 2013 or 2014.

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Rumormill: Cadillac Converj gets production green light again?