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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.

2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata won't get power folding hardtop

Following the reveal of the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata, more and more details (and rumors - oh, the rumors) are coming out regarding exactly what's in store when the car finally goes on sale. Our own Chris Paukert had plenty to say about the exterior and interior, and we've now seen the first photo of the engine. But a new report from Automobile sheds even more light on the 2016 Miata - specifically, that the power folding hardtop model won't be available, at least initially.
Automobile reports that the 2016 MX-5 will only be offered with a cloth top, and an insider confirmed that the mechanism is light and accessible enough that it can be raised and lowered with one hand from inside the car. Mazda officials would not comment on the availability of a hardtop in the coming years.
That said, a hardtop Miata isn't out of the question. There will likely be some sort of fixed roof available - even as a one-piece, lift-off accessory - if only for club racing. Also, remember that the current NC Miata's hardtop is the only one on the market that doesn't take up any additional trunk space, so it's an attractive proposition for buyers. Currently, the power hardtop is only offered on the Club and Grand Touring MX-5 Miata trims.

Mazda hits Vegas with a pair of Sixes

Despite the fact that the annual SEMA show is more of an exercise in what "could be" than what "will be," it gives automakers the chance to stretch the legs of some of its most important models. Take the 2014 Mazda6, for example - it's hardly new, having gone on sale early this year - but this year's SEMA expo marks the first time Mazda has been able to show off the customization possibilities for its sleek midsize sedan. To that end, the Japanese automaker has arrived in Las Vegas with two very different takes on its sexy Six.
First up is the Mazda6 Club Sport you see above, wearing a "motorsports-inspired" gray, black and red accent-color scheme that, as Mazda says, is "represented in not-so-subtle angular lines reminiscent of a car speeding past your line of sight." The whole car is done up in a base color of Composite Grey, and uses a Brilliant Black roof to match the similarly colored front, side and rear diffusers, as well as the rear spoiler. Mazda has fitted the Club Sport with Rays 57 Motorsport G07FXX 20-inch wheels, wrapped in Yokohama 245/35R20 tires. Powering the CS is Mazda's 2.2-liter Skyactiv-D diesel four-cylinder engine (that we'll get in the standard Six early next year), and other changes include an H&R spring kit, larger Brembo brakes and a Racing Beat exhaust.
And then there's the Ceramic 6 Concept, pictured right. The name comes from the car's Ceramic White paint, though we don't really get the Taupe Silver accent stripes. Mazda says they're meant to mimic "the linear frequency patterns found on the likes of couture dresses and flowing fabrics," but it just looks a bit overwrought to us. The Mazda6 already has so many clean lines, why add more?