As fuel efficiency and environmental friendliness have become more important to car buyers over the past few years, so has the annual Green Car of the Year award become more important to auto makers. December 3rd, at the L.A. Auto Show, before a packed room of automotive journalists, analysts, executives, and television cameras, Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of Green Car Journal, announced the winner of the 2010 Green Car of the Year award - the Audi A3 TDI. Click here for a photo. There were five finalist contenders for the prestigious Green COTY Award: the Audi A3 TDI, Toyota Prius, VW Golf TDI, Mercury Milan Hybrid, and Honda Insight. After teasing the audience with a description of the 2010 Green Car of The Year Award, Cogan named the Audi A3 TDI as the winner. Accepting the award was Johan de Nysschen, president of Audi of America. "Now I know how actors feel when they win an Academy Award," de Nysschen told the crowd, adding, "We consider the Green Car of the Year title one of the most important industry accolades." Jurors for this year's event included Dr. Alan Lloyd, president of the International Council of Clean Transportation; Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club; Jean-Michel Cousteau, president of Ocean Futures Society; Matt Petersen, president Global Green USA; Jay Leno, automotive expert and TV host; and auto icon Carrol Shelby. Click here for AIADA's complete coverage of the Green Car of the Year award at the L.A. Auto Show. For photos and video of the Audi A3 TDI, click here.
According to MSNBC, General Motors will announce a management shakeup today that will give Vice Chairman Bob Lutz new responsibilities. GM Chairman Ed Whitacre Jr. will announce the changes in a video broadcast to company employees Friday morning. The announcement comes just three days after CEO Fritz Henderson resigned in a dispute with the board. According to Automotive News, Susan Docherty, General Motors Co.'s sales chief, will get an expanded role and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz will become an adviser to Chairman Edward Whitacre as part of the automaker's management shakeup, a person familiar with the moves said. Docherty, 46, who became vice president of sales in October, will be put in charge of marketing GM's four remaining U.S. brands, the service and parts organization and Onstar, the person said. Lutz, 77, GM's product chief for most of the decade, had announced plans to retire at the start of the year. He later reconsidered and became vice chairman in charge of marketing. Whitacre, a longtime telecommunications industry executive, became interim CEO following Henderson's departure three days ago. Click here for more on GM's management shakeup.
The future - as defined in auto show terms, anyway - has long seemed a nebulous automotive utopia of three to five years away. But, writes Jerry Garrett at the New York Times, at the 2009 Los Angeles auto show, a transformation of sorts seems to be under way. A look around the Los Angeles convention center, where the show runs through Dec. 13, certainly confirms that the age of the electrification, if not quite here, is coming closer to reality. G.M. displayed a Chevrolet Volt that it says is 90 percent production-ready, needing only final tweaking of its software. The 2010 Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid is also on display - a demonstration vehicle that will travel up to 13 miles on its batteries alone. A total of 500 vehicles will be used in the initial phase of the program, which begins this month; no date has been set for public sales. Audi can expect to draw large crowds with its e-Tron electric vehicle concept. Johan de Nysschen, president of Audi of America, said the car was no auto-show prop: a production version based on the e-Tron's technology will be built, he said, and could be on sale by 2012. Click here for more of Garrett's take on the L.A. Auto Show. Click here for full coverage, including pictures and reviews of notable vehicles, at the show.
General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, facing pressure from Congress, offered Thursday to reconsider the closures of more than 3,000 dealerships, but the announcement inflamed an already-toxic distrust between the auto makers and their former retailers. According to the Detroit Free Press, beginning after Dec. 10, the automakers said they will let the rejected dealers plead their cases before an independent panel. The companies are to explain the criteria they used to decide who to reject. The dealer can rebut the finding. Only if the panel rules in the dealer's favor will the dealer have a chance to get the franchise back, but not necessarily at the former location. But many dealers say they doubt the offer would restore more than a handful of stores. GM spokesman Greg Martin, who would not speculate on how many dealers might stay in business, said the company released its proposal "because at some point, you have to move forward." As part of its deep restructuring this year, GM announced plans to cut 2,400 dealers from its 6,000-dealer network by next fall. Chrysler announced similar plans, slashing 789 dealers as part of its bankruptcy proceedings this summer. Click here for more on GM and Chrysler plans to reconsider their dealership closure decisions.
Auto makers PSA Peugeot-Citroën of France and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. of Japan are talking about a possible capital tie-up as they try to muscle up to expand in emerging markets. According to the Wall Street Journal, the talks, six months after PSA appointed a new chief executive, come as both car makers face diminished growth prospects in their home markets. At the same time, developing markets and the industry's technology changes provide big growth opportunities. The companies had started discussions that "could lead to a strategic partnership," PSA said in a statement. "A capital tie-up is one among many options," said a Mitsubishi Motors spokesman, while declining to comment on the value of any potential deal. PSA, France's largest auto maker, is strong in small- and medium-sized vehicles but weak in other areas. Its sales are overwhelmingly in Europe, where the vehicle market isn't expected to return to precrisis levels for several years. Mitsubishi has a greater range of vehicles, including minicars, SUVs, and an electric car, and is also present in the U.S. and Asia. But it produced just 1.3 million vehicles in 2008, making it hard to pay for the further development of these models. Click here for more on a possibly tie-up between Japanese auto maker Mitsubishi and French auto maker Peugot.
L.A. 2009: Toyota Debuts its Plug-In Prius for North America [Autoblog]
Best Car Values in 2009 [MSN Autos]
Review: 2009 Infiniti G37X Sport Makes No Excuses [AOL Autos]
Tiger Woods' Escalade: Complete Cadillac Carnage Gallery [Jalopnik]
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