Soon it'll only be news when a major auto show doesn't feature a strong environmental theme.
The heretofore-ironic dualities of performance and green sensitivity emerged as the major themes of last month's Frankfurt Motor Show, and this trend will continue at the technology-laden Tokyo Auto Show that opens in two weeks.
Then at the Los Angeles show coming up in November - always a hotbed of green powertrain and big-money exotic car debuts - the recently minted Green Car of the Year award will be handed out.
Mazda's plans for Tokyo are highlighted by the Taiki concept car - the fourth instalment of its "nagare" (flow) design theme, which started with the like-named Nagare concept at last year's L.A. show.
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Since Mazda's Tokyo vehicles are all being flown under the firm's "Sustainable Zoom Zoom" long-term technology banner - environmentally conscious yet not quite catchy - the Taiki's winged shape and covered rear wheels is the most wind-cheating of all four concepts, but also the most futuristic.
Okay, some would say bizarre, especially compared to the almost production-ready forms of the Ryuga hatchback and Hakaze crossover concepts that followed the Nagare.
The Taiki is a vision of what a future rear-drive, front-engine sports car could be, says Mazda.
It will be powered by a next-generation version of the rotary engine, which is the most production-ready aspect of this concept.
Mazda will also debut its upcoming hydrogen/gasoline dual fuel system in Tokyo in its Mazda Premia Hydrogen RE Hybrid, in a vehicle based on what North Americans would know as the Mazda5.
The car is set to be available for lease to the public in 2008 in Japan, which will make it one of the first hydrogen-powered vehicles to be available to the mass market.
The performance side of the Tokyo equation was also reinforced this week, with announcements by BMW and Subaru about a four-door M3 and the eagerly anticipated WRX STI, respectively.
The two high-performance four-doors promise different paths to practical performance. For BMW, it is the first four-door version of its enthusiast-adored M3 since 1998, which will feature the all-new, 414-hp V-8 from the M3 coupe officially unveiled in Frankfurt last month.
The Frankfurt show also provided a very close preview to the Subaru WRX STI that will go on sale in Japan this fall, and in North America next year. Leaked Japanese dealer brochure pictures show an STI only available as a hatchback in Japan, although it seems highly unlikely that a sedan variant won't be offered on this side of the world, especially since that's the only form its arch rival Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution will take here.
ECOAUTO REBATE FORMS
ARE NOW AVAILABLE
The many buyers who bought fuel-efficient vehicles with an eye to a federal rebate of up to $2,000 now have a way to claim that money.
The government has announced that applications have just became available at local dealers, by phone at 1-866-506-6804, or online at http://www.ecoaction.gc.ca.
Cars bought after March 20, 2007, are eligible for the rebates if they average 6.5 litres/100 km or less in combined city and highway fuel economy, with truck owners getting cash back at 8.3 L/100 km, and E85 vehicles given the biggest leeway at 13.0 L/100 km (or right where the equally new gas guzzler tax kicks in for non-E85 vehicles).
Besides being criticized for giving an incentive for inherently less fuel-efficient E85 cars - which run on an ethanol mix that is almost impossible to find in Canada - the program has also been assailed by the industry for what it believes are "arbitrary" lines in the fuel economy sand. Arbitrary meaning any line not demarcated by car makers, of course.
Once the complete application is mailed in, the rebates of $1,000 to $2,000 will be sent to owners, the government says.
The site says that the list of 2008 vehicles eligible for the rebate will be posted in the next few weeks, meaning it's already late for the majority of 2008 vehicles that officially went on sale Oct. 1.
Under the current program, 2007 and some 2006 models like the Smart fortwo were eligible for the rebate.
Does this late announcement of the 2008 list mean that the fuel-efficiency targets have been moved?
Not likely, even though the government said at the program's launch that it will continually review the targets, since at least one auto maker (Honda) has come out and said it will qualify for the 2008 rebate.
HONDA TO SHOW
AUTOMATIC BIKE
First it was the motorcycle airbag a couple of years ago, now it's a production automatic transmission for Honda's two-wheel division.
Honda is calling it the HFT, for Human-Friendly Transmission, and it will debut in Tokyo on a bike currently codenamed (we hope) DN-01 that is headed for production, said the company.
Honda promises regular and sport automatic modes with the HFT, just as on many automatics in cars, as well as a clutchless six-speed sequential gear mode that allows the rider to imitate a manual riding feel.
The DN-01 also offers a low seat height, floor boards, a 680-cc V-Twin engine and a futuristic look that could be Honda's next styling statement.
CAR MAKERS CONTINUE
FIGHT ON EMISSION RULES
The legal wrangling between auto makers arguing for less restrictive U.S. emissions regulations and activist states such as California and Vermont will continue to a higher court, after a coalition of nine auto makers, including the Detroit Three and Toyota, announced they will appeal a ruling against them.
U.S. District Judge Williams Sessions ruled last month that states such as California and Vermont did not overstep their jurisdiction by introducing emissions rules that placed limits on carbon dioxide emissions.
The auto makers argued this was a de facto fuel economy regulation, since CO{-2} emissions are proportional with fuel economy, which is governed by the Environmental Protection Agency, and that the rules proposed by California and adopted by 11 states including Vermont, where this ruling came down, are unreasonably tough.
"The court does not find convincing the claims that consumers will be deprived of their choice of vehicles, or that manufacturers will be forced to restrict or abandon their product lines," found Sessions, according to the Detroit News.
The proposed state rules would require a 30 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2016, but California and the other states are awaiting a waiver from the EPA, as it has done previously, which expects to be issued by the end of 2007.
At the same time, there are two different sets of new EPA fuel economy rules being lobbied for in Washington, both of which raise the Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements to different degrees.
The Senate in June passed a proposal that would raise the CAFE by 40 per cent by 2020, while Toyota and the Detroit Three are getting criticized for supporting a less aggressive increase of at least 28 per cent by 2022 put forth by Republicans Baron Hill and Lee Terry.
So you'll hear much about the Hill-Terry bill, no doubt, since the Detroit Three are running ads and organizing demonstrations in support of the bill around the United States.
U.S. emissions regulations would potentially affect the types of vehicles and engines available here, because economies of scale now dictate that all Canadian passenger vehicles are currently designed to American EPA standards.
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