The highlight, to me, on Thursday, December 15th, was the announcement of the Green Car of the Year award.
The award is presented yearly by the Green Car Journal. Past winners include the Toyota Camry Hybrid and the Mercury Mariner Hybrid. But this year’s winner, the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, left everyone speechless. SUVs, especially full-sized ones, are usually considered “anti-green” as far as environmentists are concerned. While the HUMMER is usually the target of their ire, anything bigger, it seems, than the Prius immediately brings out the pitchforks and stakes. Toyota, the maker of the Prius, found itself the target of environmentalists’ wrath when it debut its all-new full-sized Sequoia SUV earlier in the show. Unlike Chryler’s HEMI-powered Aspen and Dodge Durango Hybrids, there is currently no hybrid option for the Sequoia.
 While there were other debuts from Mitsubishi, Subaru, Ferrari, and others, most were the American debuts of vehicles presented elsewhere. Look for future blogs on those vehicles. I did attend the Mazda press conference where the winner of the 2018 Mazda3 showed off her design. Sorta. The clay concept was still in the works and wouldn’t be finished until the 23rd.
My last event was an update on the Chevrolet Volt concept’s battery development. While I was invited the GM-sponsored aftershow party, daily blog posts – plus sore feet – confined me for the rest of the night.
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