Volkswagen's Jetta BlueTDI was developed specifically for North America.

Just weeks after shelving plans for a production version of its 69-mpg Golf TDI Hybrid concept, Volkswagen says that a diesel-powered Jetta capable of 60 mpg on the highway is coming.

At the International Vienna Motor Symposium, which started today, Volkswagen announced that it will introduce the production version of BlueTDI – the automaker's next-generation turbo diesel engine – and that it will initially be available in the U.S. version of the Jetta before being used in other models globally.

The Jetta BlueTDI will come to North America sometime in the middle of this year, the company said, followed at some point by the Touareg BlueTDI.

The four-cylinder BlueTDI engine displaces 2.0 liters and generates 140 horsepower. It will also be 50-state legal as it meets California's toughest emissions standards, the company said.

Scott Doggett, Contributor

Fuel-cell Highlander successfully logged 2,300 miles on Alcan Highway, but  even if Toyota built retail version, there's little hydrogen fuel available.

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The conference is about early commercialization of hydrogen fueling and fuel-cell products and services, but the buzzwords still are "research" and "study," not "build" and "sell."

Granted, the National Hydrogen Association conference has just begun and there are, literally, scores of papers being delivered. Some do talk about things with real market potential – things like Plug Power's hydrogen fuel-cell electric fork lift and Air Products' on-site hydrogen fuel stations for commercial and government fleets. But most still deal with what could be, after a lot more research and development and testing gets done.

A hydrogen economy that relieves our dependency on foreign oil may be in our future, but it hasn't yet arrived.

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By Scott Doggett, Contributor

Volkswagen's U.S. sales will reverse a downward trend and soar more than triple to one million vehicles annually over the next 10 years, if all goes according to plan.

That would be the plan outlined by Stefan Jacoby, chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America, on Friday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Aggressive marketing and growing demand for clean diesels would drive the sales, he said.

One million vehicles sold annually by 2018 would be an impressive increase from 2007, when the company sold 235,000 VWs and 94,000 Audis. It also would reverse a downward trend; in 2002, the company sold 338,000 Volkswagen brand cars in the United States.

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VW Is stuffing a diesel-electric hybrid system into its Golf -- the Rabbit here.

When the world's auto companies (most of 'em, anyhow) gather in Geneva next week to strut their stuff, much of the focus will be on fuel efficiency and carbon dioxide reduction.

The two go hand in glove, as CO₂ -- the principal greenhouse gas associated with global warming -- is released when gasoline, diesel and other hydrocarbon-based fuels are burned. The less fuel a vehicle consumes per mile traveled, the lower its carbon dioxide emissions (unless it is driven more because fuel costs drop due to better mileage, but that's a topic for another time).

So expect lots of diesels, with and without turbochargers, lots of ultra efficient small gasoline engines, usually turbocharged, and even a natural gas engine or two to be featured in the cars that will be unveiled.

Edmunds Inside Line has prepared an exhaustive look at the cars being featured at the Geneva auto show, and Edmunds AutoObserver offers a look at the show and CO₂ issues.

Geneva also will offer a few hybrids, including one that has the Internet burning up: VW has confirmed that it will show what it calls a diesel-hybrid "study." We'd call it a concept and a number of European auto blogs including Britain's Channel4.com are calling it a done deal, sure to go into production soon. (Sorry, VW wasn't offering any pictures today, so we're just showing the standard Golf.)

The excitement is all about mileage. Loaded into the latest version of the VW Golf (that's a Rabbit in the U.S.), the power train is good for U.S. fuel economy of 69.9 miles per gallon – take that, Toyota.

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Compressed intake air (blue) and exhaust gases (red) that drive turbo.

Ford finally gets into the green game in a big way with a turbocharged, direct injection gasoline engine, to be unveiled next week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

More than 2.5 million Ford, Mercury and Lincoln vehicles will get the new (for Ford) four- and six-cylinder engines from launch in 2009 through 2013, Ford Global Product Chief Derrick Kuzak told reporters during an embargoed briefing on the technology last month.

The move is significant because with more than 16 million new cars and trucks sold each year in the U.S, it is going to take rapid and widespread application of fuel-saving and low-emission technologies to make a significant dent in the nation's oil dependency and air quality problems.

Ford says its version of direct injection technology, which it calls EcoBoost, will enable cars and trucks that use it to deliver up to 20 percent better fuel economy with 15 percent fewer carbon-dioxide emissions than versions equipped with standard fuel-injected engines of similar output.

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Mercedes-Benz is counting on its new clean diesel engines to help boost sales in a U.S. market suddenly consumed by fuel economy concerns.

But the German luxury carmaker could get another big benefit from diesel sales here: the increased mileage diesel cars and trucks deliver could save it millions of dollars a year in the fines it regularly pays for exceeding the federal CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standard.

For 2006, the most recent figures available, Mercedes – through its then-parent DaimlerChrysler -- paid a record $30.3 million in CAFE fines, according to data posted recently by the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency.

As we reported previously, the record for the highest annual fine had been held by BWW of North America, which paid $27.9 million in 2001 (breaking its own record of $27.3 million set in 2000).

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Production version of Honda FCX concept (above) will be unveiled at  the LA Show

Although environmental transportation isn't a central theme of this year's Los Angeles auto show, there's still a touch of green to be found among the displays at the LA Convention Center.

Green used to be a big thing for the West Coast's premier auto show, but that was before environmental issues became part of just about every auto show on the calendar.

From Detroit to Tokyo, these days they all have a green component, ranging from the unveiling of concepts that explore things like plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and the hydrogen future to the introduction of production models that give us the newest in gas-electric hybrids and alternative fuels such as diesel and ethanol.

In LA this year, events will include an announcement Thursday morning of the Green Car of the Year award winner. Nominees for the award, sponsored by the Green Car Journal magazine, all are hybrids this year, and three are from General Motors: The Chevrolet Malibu sedan, Saturn Aura sedan and Tahoe SUV hybrids. The other finalists are the Mazda Tribute SUV hybrid and the Nissan Altima sedan hybrid.

As the 2007 show prepares to open its doors this week, for a two-day media preview Wednesday and Thursday and to the general public Friday evening for a 10-day run, here's a look at what to expect.

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Volkswagen of America has embarked on a four-month, nationwide mobile marketing campaign to persuade consumers that its new diesel-powered cars and SUVs are not the noisy, smoky, poison-spewing vehicles people remember from the 1970s.

The  "Dieselution Tour,"  housed in an expandable semi-trailer packed with exhibits and interactive displays, is headed  to events where large crowds gather, including environmental and alternative fuel festivals and the 2008 Super Bowl.

VW's new diesels – a 2009 Jetta TDI and a 2009 3.0-liter V6 TDI Touareg – are coming along as well.

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Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell Vehicle

As if on cue, the cars of the future queue up and drive past Vijay Vaitheeswaran.

A shiny new Nissan Altima hybrid powered by both gasoline and electricity zips by silently. A slick European-spec Audi A6 sedan purrs by, burning clean diesel.

Then comes a Prius hybrid with a short power cord where you'd expect to find a tailpipe, signifying its aftermarket conversion to a 100-plus mpg plug-in. There's even a Hyundai Tucson fuel-cell electric SUV carrying three tanks full of hydrogen, enough to travel about 150 miles.

Vaitheeswaran, a reporter for The Economist and co-author of  Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future, nods in appreciation.

He's taken a break from his book tour to attend an alternative fuels program in the industrial town of South San Francisco.

 "In a nutshell, oil is the problem, cars are a big part of the solution," he said.

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Volkswagen's John Tillman and HyMotion Fuel Cell Vehicle

Hydrogen-powered fuel-cell electric vehicles still seem more science fiction than fact to most of us, but there's been no letup by automakers in their efforts to bring the technology closer to retail reality.

A Volkswagen Touran mini-minivan running around California these days represents the state of the art, and VW is promising even better things by next spring.

The Touran, a European VW body style not available in the U.S., was rechristened as the "HyMotion" for the fuel-cell version, which features numerous components designed and built in-house by VW.

"We're starting to get away from the wholesale purchase of off-the-shelf systems from other vendors," said John Tillman, head of VW's alternative powertrain programs in the U.S.

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