Green Options

Last week we covered news about Volkswagen’s new BlueMotion brand of fuel-efficient vehicles — but that’s not the only “green” news coming out of Wolfsburg these days: VW subsidiary Škoda just released word that its highly anticipated GreenLine sedans are now available for purchase throughout Europe.

Škoda is trying to carve a niche for itself with large sedans that are green and luxurious — starting with the company’s flagship SuperB sedan. Škoda first showed the VW Passat-based sedan at last year’s Geneva Motor Show.  Like the Passat, the Škoda makes use of a 1.9 liter turbo direct-injection clean diesel that delivers 105 hp and over 180 lb-ft of torque at low rpm, making for quick acceleration off the line and serious biofuel capability.

Find out more — and read Škoda’s official press release — after the jump.

Several weeks ago, I filled you in on Bentley’s upcoming ethanol supercar, promised to be the fastest, most powerful Bentley ever offered.

In the days since, Bentley has kept the world’s journalists hungry for more details, releasing only this “Project Victoria” teaser video, a March reveal date, and precious little else… but has one of Volkswagen’s lesser-known suppliers inadvertently given away Project Victoria’s horsepower secrets?

You bet! Read it here first, after the jump.

Volkswagen’s launched a new brand: BlueMotionTechnologies.

It houses all of Volkswagen’s best eco-friendly tech. It currently includes a new start-stop system, regenerative braking, SCR catalytic converter and the NO_x storage catalytic converter.

At the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, Audi announced that their Clean Diesel A3 TDI would be available in US by early 2010.

The Audi A3 is by far one of Europe’s cleanest and most fuel-efficient cars, and Audi is hoping the car will kick some major Prius butt. Pitching the car as a hybrid-fighter, Audi is pairing it off against both the Prius and the Honda Insight.

At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Volkswagen showed off its latest roadster — the BlueSport Concept. The BlueSport features a 177 hp diesel engine with rail injection and a downstream NO_x storage catalytic converter, all in a 6-speed DSG dual clutch transmission.

In a conference on the future of electric transportation, the German government has detailed a major plan to put one million electric and plug-in hybrid cars on the country’s roads within the next 11 years.

The sweeping plan includes a large amount of funding for advanced battery development, investment in an electric car charging infrastructure, and tax credits for the adoption of electric cars and plug-in hybrids. Conceived by four separate German agencies — the departments of Economics, Transport, Environment, and Education/Research — the plan is on track to be signed into actual law at the beginning of the next German legislative session.

Camping season is coming to an end, but you might want to start thinking about saving up cash for the $129,000 Verdier Solar-Powered Camper. The RV is based on the classic VW camper style, and contains a 4 cylinder hybrid engine, a 170 watt solar system, and a GPS system to orient the solar panels. If you’re stuck on a cloudy stretch of road, the RV can also use regular gasoline.

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.

German car-maker Audi has confirmed that it plans to launch a small electric city car, most likely based on the VW Up! concept (pictured).

Speaking at last weeks Paris Motor Show, Audi management board member, Peter Schwarzenbauer, said, “we will offer a pure electric car.” He also revealed that the electric Audi “will not be based on the A1,” the firm’s premium supermini.

Earlier this week, Volkswagen unveiled its Golf Mark VI BlueMotion concept car, which looks set to raise the bar on the fuel efficiency and emissions performance of ‘mainstream’ cars. At just 99g/km, the new hatchback emits exactly the same amount of CO2 as the much smaller Polo BlueMotion. It also undercuts current main rival, the Ford Focus ECOnetic by 16g/km.

A new hyper-efficient 1.6 TDI diesel engine also means that the latest offering boasts fuel economy of 74.3mpg (combined), an improvement of around 20% on the Mark V, while still enabling acceleration from 0-60 mph in 11.2 seconds, apparently due to improved aerodynamics and a new ’sporty’ gearbox.

It looks like the new line of clean diesels from VW, including the new Jetta TDI and SportWagen, will be eligible for a $1,300 Federal Income Tax Credit.

VW made the announcement earlier in the week after receiving notification from the IRS that clean diesels would meet the “Advanced Lean Burn” motor vehicle income tax credit.