Green Options

As the dust settles out from the 2008 LA Auto Show, Nissan has clearly emerged as the car company to beat in our transportation future.

From a green perspective, even though the Mini E is getting the most hype, the Mitsubishi i MiEV is one hell of a fun car to drive, and the Honda FCX Clarity is cutting edge, those are just cars. The true measure of a car company lies in its strategies, and, after Nissan’s recent media blitz, the company has shown that there is not a single other auto manufacturer out there who “just gets it” like they do.

Considering the fact that diesel cars have been nearly non-existent in the US for the last decade, the Green Car Journal’s choice of the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI as the Green Car of the Year comes as a bit of a surprise — especially because its competition included two hybrids, and a Smart fortwo.

Honda today revealed an environmentally friendly, three-seat, supercar design study concept called the FC Sport based on Honda’s modular V Flow hydrogen fuel cell stack.

The vehicle builds on the same hydrogen technology being used in the FCX Clarity — Honda’s “production” hydrogen fuel cell vehicle currently being tested in limited release by a couple hundred hand-picked owners in the US, including celebrities like Jamie Lee Curtis.

Much of the attention surrounding the upcoming 2008 LA Auto Show (Nov. 21-30) has been directed at cars like the 2010 Ford Mustang and the 2009 Nissan 370Z. Yet, while glitzy, fast, and heart-poundingly desirable, these types of cars already seem like relics of a different era — a weird and surreal window on the past. To celebrate them feels mostly cheap and material, and does a disservice to the reality of our current world.

Given announcements last Friday that the American auto industry is on the brink of extinction, it seems to me that the more important cars at the show are the ones that, if they’re smart, the American auto industry will quickly turn to as the future of transportation. In honor of these sentiments, it’s only fitting for Gas 2.0 to do a preview of the cars and technologies you care about, and leave the relics to the pros.

I’ll be covering the LA Auto Show during press days on November 19-20, so stay tuned to Gas 2.0 for live coverage. Until then, check out the small taste of what’s to come below.