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Finalists for 2014 Green Car of the Year announced

The list of finalists for the 2014 Green Car of the Year has been announced, and in a genuinely bizarre twist, there's only one hybrid and no electric vehicles among the five contestants, despite the arrival of cars like the BMW i3 and Tesla Model S. Taking the place of the EVs are a pair of diesels, repping a technology that last won a Green Car of the Year award in 2009, when the Audi A3 TDI took the title. No diesel was in the running for last year's award.
Naturally, both of the diesel finalists are fielded by the Germans - with BMW's 328d and Audi's A6 TDI getting the nod. In the case of the 3 Series, BMW installed a 2.0-liter, turbodiesel, capable of delivering 180 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque, while returning 45 miles per gallon on the highway. Audi and its larger, 3.0-liter, V6 turbodiesel produce quite a bit more grunt, with 240 hp and 428 lb-ft of grunt, but net a very impressive 38 mpg on the highway in the A6.
Finalists for this year's awards include two diesels, three gas-powered cars and a plug-in hybrid.

Toyota's HaMo urban mobility carsharing program comes to France

We're guessing no one's nuts enough to try to take one of Toyota's three-wheeled leaning electric i-Road vehicles up into the French Alps. Still, the town of Grenoble, France, which sits at the foot of the mountains, has received 35 of those vehicles as part of a carsharing pilot program. Toyota's thrown in 35 four-wheel Auto Body COMS vehicles into the program as well. Grenoble, which is about 200 miles north of Marseille, was presumably chosen because of existing carsharing programs run by Cite-lib. This program, dubbed "Cite lib by Ha:mo," goes a little more futuristic, though, as it's part of what Toyota calls its "Ha:mo" plan (Ha:mo is short for "harmonious mobility"). The program will run for three years and includes 27 charging stations near bus lines and train stations. The public will be charged anywhere from three to 19 euros ($3.80 to $24.50 US) to use the vehicles for between 15 minutes and four hours. The good news is that drivers can pick up the vehicles in one location and drop them off in another. Toyota started testing the i-Road vehicles in Toyota City, Japan, this past March. The trike is about three feet wide and has a top speed of 28 miles per hour. Check out Toyota's press release below and read AutoblogGreen's "First Drive" impressions of the i-Road here. "Cite lib by Ha:mo", a New Type of Urban Mobility Based on Ultra-Compact Electric Vehicles Connected to Public Transport, Launches in Grenoble, France This innovative car-sharing service aims to prepare the City and agglomeration of Grenoble for electric mobility within a comprehensive multi-modal mobility plan. The three-year trial project brings together the competencies and services of five partners: the City of Grenoble, the Metro Area, French electricity company EDF and its affiliate Sodetrel, Toyota, and Cite lib, the local car-sharing operator. 35 three-wheel Toyota i-ROAD and 35 four-wheel Toyota Auto Body COMS will be available for short city trips in 27 charging stations installed and operated by Sodetrel - including for one-way trips from one station to another. A total of 120 charging points for the project and 41 for other plug-in vehicles will be added to the city's transport infrastructure. A simple pricing plan dubbed "3, 2, 1 euros" for respectively the first, second and third 15-minute increments will be proposed to Grenoble citizens.

Ford Fusion production scaled back just 3 months after it was accelerated

Three months after kicking off production of the Ford Fusion at its Flat Rock, MI factory, Ford Motor Company is taking steps to trim output in the face of heavily discounted competition from Toyota and a growing supply of vehicles.
The addition of Fusion production in Flat Rock - which also builds the Mustang - was meant to be what pushed the handsome mid-sizer past its arch-nemesis, the Toyota Camry. An extra facility building Fusions was also meant to curb the growing demand for Ford's highly profitable sedan.
But with word that Flat Rock would take "approximately" one extra week off for the holidays combined with an 88-day supply of Fusions - reportedly due in no small part to what Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas called "aggressive discounting of the Camry" - some analysts are now beginning to wonder if Ford may have overextended itself by adding a second Fusion facility to the mix.