We Obsessively Cover the Green Scene…

The 2012 Ford Focus Electric is officially on its way to dealerships. Outlets in California, New Jersey, and New York – 67 in all – are going to be the first to receive the electron-fueled Focus, with about six cars each winding up on lots. To help dealers build more excitement for what's likely to be a slow-starting sales story, the dealers will hold one of the Focus EVs as a demonstrator.

Even if fewer than 5,000 Focus Electric models find buyers this year, Alan Mulally won't be disappointed. While Ford ultimately expects electrics and hybrid vehicles to account for up to 25 percent of its sales volume by 2020, the company is moving deliberately. Rather than develop and tool an entirely new platform, Ford's move to modify the Focus for electric propulsion is said to allow some semblance of a profit margin, but it's going to take time for consumers to warm to the idea of a $40,000 Focus, even if a third of that price is the battery, and Ford appears to be keeping this in mind.

After the initial 350 or so cars are delivered to the pilot stores, the rest of the Ford dealers across the nation will start getting the Focus EV before spring turns into summer.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has crowned two eco-friendly new models as Top Safety Picks: the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco and 2012 Toyota Prius c. The redesigned 2013 Malibu joins its 2012 model-mate as a Top Pick, and the 2013 earned a good side impact rating even without its optional side airbags.

The Prius c also has siblings that have won the award, the Prius and Prius v. Also earning top honors in the latest round of testing is the redesigned Hyundai Azera. The Top Pick moniker is given to vehicles that score "Good" in the IIHS's front, side, rollover and rear-impact tests.

Have a look below for video of the Malibu and Prius c going through their side-impact exams.

Porsche has officially put the finishing touches on the first prototypes of the company's 918 Spyder, complete with a black-and-white livery scheme that pays homage to the 917 racers of old. Production is set to commence in a little over a year, and the German sportscar manufacturer says buyers can look forward to taking possession of the first examples by the end of 2013.

The plug-in hybrid will command a heady price tag, though. Porsche has confirmed the company will ask a whopping $845,000 per model, each with a 500 horsepower 4.0-liter V8 engine and two electric motors that the automaker says "make possible a unique combination of minimal fuel consumption and maximum performance."

Altogether, the gas-electric drivetrain should be good for a 3.1-second 0-60 sprint and a top speed of 199 mph. Perhaps even more impressive is the news that the 918 will be able to propel itself with electric power at speeds of up to 94 mph. That little fact helps account for the news that the vehicle should be able to return around 78 miles per gallon on the EU cycle. Scroll down for the brief press release, but not before checking out the high-res gallery.

The crew from Mission Motors took the time to stop by Jay Leno's Garage to give the comedian a peek at the Mission-R electric motorcycle. The machine uses 14-kWh lithium-ion batteries paired with a 120-kilowatt motor, which means there's around 161 horsepower on hand. Mission says the combination can get rider and machine to 60 miles per hour in around three seconds while scooting to a top speed of 160 mph. Not too shabby. The whole package weighs in at around 550 pounds and gives riders a range of 80-100 miles depending on how frisky they are with the throttle.

Mission says the company wanted to pursue a race bike because of the challenges the platform presents. Namely, the machine has to serve up impressive performance while remaining fairly lightweight, meaning there's little space for massive battery packs. Leno is no stranger to electric bikes or motorcycles. The guy has a stable of two-wheel machines, both internal-combustion and EV. Scroll down to check out the video for yourself.

The Detroit News reports lithium-ion battery manufacturer A123 Systems is set to post a net loss of $125 million on revenue of $10.9 million for the first quarter of 2012. Official results will be released later this week. The loss includes $51.6 million tied to replacing battery packs produced at the company's Lavonia, Michigan facility. Some of those packs could have been manufactured with defective cells. The figure also includes $15.2 million to increase inventory reserves.

As you may recall, A123 Systems provides battery packs for companies like Fisker. The extended-range EV manufacturer recently reported issues with the supplier's products, but A123 says it has determined the cause of the defective cells and is working to make sure the failures don't reoccur.

The report also suggests A123 Systems will lower its revenue forecast for the year to $145 million to $175 million. The company originally projected it would generate between $230 million and $300 million.

Michael Arbaugh, chief designer of Ford interiors, describes center console space as "oceanfront property" – already fully populated, with more tenants trying to move in every year. Speaking to the Automotive Press Association in Detroit, Arbaugh said one tenant he'd like to evict is the CD player because it's dead weight for audio Luddites.

Ok, so he didn't say that exactly. But Arbaugh believes they're out of fashion with people under 30, and that growing lack of interest means they occupy space that could be better employed. They also add weight that has to be countered somewhere else in the march to meet CAFE regulations, an endeavor with nearly aerospace tolerances anymore.

The CD-less car is just talk at the moment but there's no doubt it's coming. More and more computers are being sold without optical drives, and as it goes in the tech world so it shall go in the car-tech world. If we could just get carmakers to properly integrate connections for other PMPs that can play lossless codes and don't mutilate the music, then we wouldn't mind at all – especially since weight savings is one of the best ways to improve fuel efficiency.

Let's get this off our chests right off the bat: There's nothing truly efficient about the Bentley Continental GT. That said, we're at least pleased to see that the marque has decided to outfit its luxurious supercar with a smaller and more fuel efficient engine option.

The Bently Continental GT with the W12 is rated at 12 city/19 highway on traditional premium, 8 city/14 highway on E85, and easily less than that on an excited right foot. When we drove the Continental GT V8 at launch we were told that official EPA mileage could be rated as high was 24 mpg on the highway, and that, even with the right-foot factor, would be a generous improvement over the W12 for sacrificing just 67 horsepower and almost nothing in performance. It turns out Bentley told the truth, the official EPA numbers are 15 city/24 highway.

According to FuelEconomy.gov, the 12 combined mpg of the W12 is raised to 15 combined with the V8. Better yet, drivers will save $1,000 on premium unleaded every year, the V8 needing $3,400 worth of the explosive liquid, the W12 needing $4,300. On top of the fact that the V8 is roughly $18,000 less than the W12, with those annual savings you'll be able to add a couple more ties to your collection every year, or one bespoke shoe. Start with the right foot – that's where the action is.

Business has been good for Ferrari. Thanks in no small part to expanding its activities in developing markets, the racing team turned automaker raked in 556 million euros in revenues to generate 42.1 million euros in profit in the first quarter of this year alone – an increase of 13.2 and 17.2 percent, respectively. Those figures are driven by increased sales that amounted to 1,733 units produced and delivered in the first quarter out of an exciting model range that includes the 458 Italia and Spider, the recently revised California, the innovative FF and the brand-new F12 Berlinetta. But the House that Enzo built is not about to stop there.

Buried deep within the company's financial report (which you can delve into after below the fold should you be so inclined) comes confirmation direct from the company's affable chairman (and possible next Italian prime minister) Luca di Montezemolo: "At the end of the year, we'll also be unveiling the new Enzo, a limited series model and our first ever hybrid car."

So there we have it, straight from the proverbial lion's mouth and in no uncertain terms. Before we flip the calendar to 2013, we'll have the latest in the long line of earth-shattering supercars that started with the 288 GTO, continued with the legendary F40, through the open-top F50 and on to the radical Enzo. And yes, it will be a hybrid, coupling an electric motor to a revised version of the V12 in the new F12 Berlinetta, as Ferrari revealed at the Beijing Motor Show.

We knew the three-door Volkswagen Up! was going to shape-shift into other variants, one of them being a five-door version that's due later this year. According to word in German newspaper Handelsblatt, the well-received Cross-Up!, which provided clues to the styling of the five-door Up! could actually be the follow-up.

Crossovers remain popular just about everywhere and their sales are on the rise in Europe, so it's no surprise that manufacturers are finding ways to create market-specific versions. According to the preliminary numbers, the The Cross Up! would slot in at $6,000 less than the larger Tiguan. And like every other tiny Euro crossover – well, almost – we shouldn't ever expect to see it here.

Last year, Volkswagen commenced its People's Car Project in China to create crowdsourced concepts of the VW of the future. More than 33 million people visited the site, and three concepts were created from the inputs: the Music Car, the Hover Car and the Smart Key.

The Music Car is a Beetle wrapped in LEDs that change colors to match the driver's choice of music. The Hover Car is a zero-emissions two-seater that, no surprise, hovers over electromagnetic road networks. The Smart Key is Big Brother for your car, for your pocket: the hig-def touchscreen on the nine millimeter key can track the status of your car and keep an eye on it via "satellite transmission."

The project is continuing, so you can still post your thoughts to VW's future. In the meantime there's a video and a couple of press releases after the jump for more on the story.

While the Toyota TS030 Hybrid won't be participating in this weekend's FIA World Endurance Championship race at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium due to a crash in pre-season testing last month, that didn't stop the automaker from bringing the new endurance racer as a preview for what's to come for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. The TS030 even made time for a quick photoshoot at the infamous Masta Kink alongside the new Audi R18 e-tron Quattro, which happens to be making its race debut this weekend.

While both the Audi and Toyota employ hybrid powertrains, a first for endurance prototypes, each go about it in very different ways. The TS030 makes use of a naturally aspirated 3.4-liter V8 while the R18 e-tron Quattro uses a turbocharged diesel V6. Audi's hybrid system powers the front wheels, hence the Quattro name, while Toyota has yet to announce whether it's system will drive the front or rear wheels.

The closed cockpit racers make for quite an attractive couple, and we hope it's a pairing that will form a lasting rivalry in the coming years.

Volvo is taking its Mean Green hybrid truck on U.S. tour for a few months. One of the stops between Toronto Tuck World and the Volvo Ocean Race in Miami was Wendover, UT, to attempt a couple of record-breaking speed runs.

Mean Green uses a 16-cylinder engine that puts out 1,900-horsepower, tied to an electric motor that adds 200 hp and 885 pound-feet. With that package, the Swedish Viking Speed Records Team and pilot Boije Overbrink were aiming for 165 miles per hour in the flying kilometer. They didn't quite make that lofty goal, but they did well enough to break not one, but two world records. Scroll down for the story of the day.

Newsflash: Americans are fat. And no, we're not just big boned. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions over the past couple decades, and as a result diabetes, heart disease and just about every other health issue are on the rise.

The Atlantic reports that the amount of fuel we're using is on the rise as well, as heavy occupants need more fuel to get from Point A to *insert drive-thru joke here*. A 2006 study shows that Americans weigh so much more than they did in 1960 that we're using up almost an additional billion gallons of petrol every year.

That's about $4 billion a year at today's gas prices, and nearly one percent of overall fuel usage. And that was back in 2006 – as we continue to plump up, the dollars continue to pile up. Inside Line reports that each pound we gain as a population adds up to another $39 million. It's too bad we can't get stop/start tech for our appetites.

Regular readers might remember a similar story about the 2006 study that claimed the U.S. is using an extra 153 million gallons a year. That was an estimate based on actual fuel deliveries. The new number, 938 million gallons, comes from engineer Sheldon Jacobson of the University of Illinois. However you look at the numbers, the point is our waistlines impact the bottom line.

If you want a top-of-the-line SUV with serious performance capabilities, look no further than the Volkswagen Group. Its Porsche unit has had tremendous success with the Cayenne, a vehicle that has doubled its sales all on its own – and that's not even accounting for the Volkswagen Touareg or Audi Q7 that share some of its underpinnings. Keen to capitalize on that success, the German auto giant is overseeing the application of the same formula to two of its other divisions: Lamborghini, which just unveiled its new Urus concept, and Bentley, which is working on an SUV of its own.

The British marque has been showcasing the EXP 9 F concept to preview what it has in store. It only hinted at powertrain possibilities upon its unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show, but at the Beijing Motor Show, it got ever so slightly more specific. Like the Continental range, the production version of the Bentley sport-ute would pack a 600-horsepower, 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12, but offer the (relatively) more sensible 500hp, 4.0L twin-turbo V8 as well. The bigger news, however, is the V6 plug-in hybrid option which Bentley is planning for its SUV, enabling it to travel up to 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) on electric-only mode, while rocketing to 100 km/h (62 mph) in less than five seconds.

Bentley projects the variety of powertrain options will help it sell 3,000 units of the vehicle once it enters production in 2015 – the same figures sister-company Lamborghini is projecting for the Urus. To put that into context, consider that Bentley sold just over 7,000 vehicles (from its current Continental and Mulsanne lines) around the world last year. That's still a far cry from the number of Cayennes that Porsche churns out – it delivered nearly 13,000 of them in the United States alone last year – but then the EXP 9 F is expected to carry a price tag north of $200,000 (double the price of even the most expensive Cayenne Turbo) while sharing common components to make its first entrance into SUV market a lucrative one for the Flying B brand.

Scope out the fresh high-resolution images we've added to the gallery above for another look at the EXP 9 F (which is still expected to look different by the time it comes to production), and scroll down for the press release containing powertrain information.