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L.A. Auto Show rundown

Nissan

Okay, the L.A. Auto Show usually has its fair share of green-car announcements, and this year was no exception.

We talked about Honda's cool FC Sport hydrogen super-car concept already. But what else happened? Read on.

  • Ford unveiled the fully redesigned versions of the Fusion and Mercury Milan, including hybrid versions of both.

    The key numbers: Up to 39 mpg in city driving, the ability to drive at up to 47 mph in electric-only mode, and a range of 700 miles on a tank of gas with city driving.

  • Toyota presented a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered version of the Camry Hybrid. Don't get too excited, T. Boone Pickens -- it's just a concept car.

  • The Nissan Cube (one of your humble correspondent's personal faves), previously available only in Japan and a select few right-hand-drive markets, has been fully updated (as seen in the above photo) and is now available in the U.S.

  • The Volkswagen Jetta TDI won the Green Car of the Year Award. Very nice car. Dumb award.

  • Honda showed off the Insight hybrid's funky/cool instrument panel with "Ecological Drive Assist."

  • Nissan brought the ridiculous-yet-fun Altima Hot Rod Hybrid show car.

  • Hyundai showed off the power-train for the upcoming Sonata Hybrid.

  • The lithium-ion-powered electric MINI Cooper E made its big debut. Dig those yellow-wall tires.

There's plenty more. All the auto websites and blogs have wall-to-wall L.A. Show coverage. Just search the Web.

Alex Nunez is associate editor of Autoblog.com.


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comments from our community

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  • Posted by shoogadaddy Mon Nov 24, 2008 6:28pm PST
    Now I see why GM got rid of the EV1 (the electric car of the late 80's). If you plug your car to your garage to recharge you're not paying gas tax, and only the electric co. benefits from the all-electric vehicle. WOW! and all the talk about becoming oil indepedent in the campaign trail. that one went completely over our head! Why don't they tax water instead? everybody uses it and we need to conserve it. Well, looks like OPEC has a grip on us like a crack dealer on a junkie.
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  • Posted by Roger S Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:10pm PST
    Do you think this is an effort ???? This is why we are in trouble .....EXPENSIVE ...GEERN CARS are not the answer ... there are so many "regular" Americans that have working ideas that can be produced NOW ...... I as one have been driving a car with over 100 mpg for years now and it was introduced in Popular Mechanics many years ago for the "do it yourselfer"and if were mass produced .....??????? But it never will be as it is too simple and there is NOT that much profit in this vehicle ..... Why should we be able to sell care that can go over the speed limit ?????? How stupid .....If we have the fastest speed limit in America at 75 mph .....why make cars with giant engines that go 200 mph ?????? Why did Hitler demand that his German auto maker have and make a car for the "people" and named it the Volkswagen and got 40 mpg with an air cooled 4 cyl engine ????? God ...wake up AMERICA ....are you all Jerry Springer mentality .... You deserve what you get as it is YOU that allows this to happen ....We allow corporate GREED ..... we deserve all that is going on today as we are all so self centered and care only for today ....
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  • Posted by b0ardkn0t Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:22pm PST
    wow, so much negativity. Gee, Roger S. why A)were you not able to mass produce your car, and B) if you did not have the money why not sell your concept to someone that could? David W. what the hell? Roger I do agree that many "green" cars are being sold now for an arm and a leg in many cases. In fact that is because they have proved tremendously popular with people that have money here in California and that's like saying the sun is shining here. Honda, Nissan, Toyota for the most part did a good job keeping high mileage even before the term "green" was being used back when, and at cheap prices to boot, with that luxurious look of an expensive sedan. THAT's why they've brought in the business. Complete opposite of what GM, Ford, and Chrysler have been focusing on (though on that note Honda, Nissan, and Toyota, had much better/creative, more effective PR, and advertising in place, than the Big 3--which they could also stand to learn from). The point of all this is that most companies are finally getting on board and creating cars with higher mileage and greener than before, for the masses. Now they should start focusing on bringing the prices down, though with oil the way it is, and being "green" being the most popular thing right now, it all boils down to supply and demand, and if more people demand these type of cars the more these companies will be able to charge more for these cars.
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