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VW, Fiat, Mercedes could be CNG winners in Europe

Fiat ads in the US try to play up the exotic, sexy side of Italian culture. On the home front in Italy, however, passenger-vehicle sales are marked by something less edgy and quite a bit more practical: the growth of compressed-natural-gas (CNG) powered car sales. In fact, Italy is leading a group of European countries where CNG sales are on the upswing and may be benefiting automakers like VW, Fiat and Mercedes-Benz, according to Automotive News. VW started sales of its Golf TGI natural-gas vehicle this year – the company's fourth in Europe – while Mercedes-Benz added a natural-gas B-class model. Fiat accounts for about 50 percent of CNG vehicles sold on the continent. In all, Europe's CNG sales through September totaled about 67,000, up seven percent from a year earlier, Automotive News Europe says, citing research firm JATO Dynamics. And the number of CNG vehicles on Europe's roads could jump tenfold within the next decade. The draw is a combination of lower refueling prices and a CNG drivetrain that typically emits less CO2 than diesel vehicles. As for Italy, about five percent of new-vehicle sales are CNG. To put that into perspective, hybrids, battery-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and diesels combined to account for about 4.2 percent of US vehicle sales last year. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Volkswagen Green Fiat Mercedes-Benz Volkswagen Natural Gas Vehicles CNG

Autoblog fan favorite car ads from Super Bowl XLIX

Super Bowl XLIX is in the books, and the New England Patriots emerged victorious. Of course, if you're like us, the big game wasn't so much about the battle between the east coast and west, so much as a fight between the world's automotive advertisers. We collected and collated all of last night's new ads and put them together for you to vote on. And yes, we're limiting this year's contest to last night's new features. That's why you aren't seeing Dodge's epic Wisdom among our collection of commercials, and it's a similar story with Chevrolet's Truck Guy Focus Group series, which highlights the new Colorado. You can still vote for your favorites. We won't be closing the voting on our Super Bowl page, so while the winners and losers are correct as of this writing, it's entirely possible that there could be some changes in the rankings as time goes on. So, without any further ado, here are the winning ads based on your voting. Nissan: With Dad Fiat: Ready For Action Jeep: Beautiful Lands BMW: Newfangled Idea Mercedes-Benz: Fable NASCAR: America Start Your Engines As for those ads that failed to impact you, loyal readers, Toyota was the absolute, undisputed loser. The Japanese brand ran four ads in total – two for Toyota and two for Lexus – and all of them have negative tallies as of this writing. Lexus' Make Some Noise and Lets Play and Toyota's One Bold Choice and My Bold Dad both had very weak showings among the commercials that aired, although they weren't alone. Neither Mazda nor Kia scored particularly well, despite featuring celebrity magic act Penn and Teller and former James Bond, Pierce Brosnan, respectively. Chevrolet was the winner of the losers, as of our writing, recording the fewest downvotes for its audience-punking The Big Game ad. If you want to take a second look at the losing ads, you can head back to our Super Bowl page for the complete collection. But for now, head into Comments and let us know what you think of the results.

Queens man knows how to party, disrupts Mets game with van

A New Yorker and all-around true American hero took his weekend festivities a little too far and landed himself in front of a judge last week. According to NBC New York, Nelson Hidalgo drove his unassuming Sprinter to Citi Field on Saturday, June 18, around 10:45 p.m. While the Mets were getting thrashed by the Braves, Hidalgo pulled up to the intersection of 127th street and 35th avenue. Hiding within the van's cargo area were 80 speakers driven by powerful amps, around $20,000 worth of car audio. Hidalgo opened the Sprinter's rear doors, deployed his amazing speaker system, cracked a cold Coors Light, and unleashed hell. Noise complaints immediately started flooding in to the police, including one from the Mets' bullpen. Soon, Hidalgo amassed a sizable crowd who had come to rock out and marvel at the lunacy of the Sprinter's sound system. The NYPD showed up eventually and, undaunted by noise and the crowd, clapped the irons on poor Nelson. The Sprinter was impounded and Hildago was charged with second-degree criminal nuisance, general noise prohibition, disorderly conduct, and obstructing the driver's view. "I know it's illegal, but it's the weekend," he explained to the cops as they hauled him away. Once they had him in custody, the NYPD realized that Hidalgo was the person they had been looking for in connection with absurdly loud music coming from various city junkyards in the dead of night. Hidalgo, who has no prior record, spent the night in the slammer but was released the next morning with no bail on the promise that he return for his court date on August 1. Related Video: