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Policy, green cars take center stage at Washington auto show

Public policy and the ultimate impact it has on consumers' cars was the hot topic on Thursday at the Washington auto show, as companies vied to show off and explain their latest fuel-efficient technologies under the watchful eyes of regulators and government officials. Notably, Chevrolet announced plans to roll out an "Ecologic" environmental label on the 2012 Sonic, with other vehicles to follow. Sort of like nutrition labels for food, Chevy's version will explain the environmental impact of cars throughout their life cycles.

BMW i3 EV revealed. It’s clever, but it’s not exactly pretty

The BMW i3 electric city car (pictured) has been officially revealed The BMW i3 – the first of BMW’s production ‘i’ electric cars – has finally been revealed at events in London, New York and Beijing as BMW plots its course to bring a premium electric city car to the world. Looking much like the original Mega City Concept, the i3 debuts a number of innovations from BMW – which are very clever – but it also debuts perhaps the worst looking BMW we’ve ever seen, with its incongruous lines, bulging bonnet, odd shapes on the flanks and slab-backed rear view. But what underpins the i3 is clever indeed, with a lightweight inner body made from carbon fibre and carbon fibre reinforced body panels providing the skin, all conspiring to make the i3 light – 1195kg, despite 25 per cent or so of that being batteries – and very rigid.

Focus RS plus – the Loder1899

The Focus RS by Loder1899 We finally got round to doing a review of the Focus RS last week and came away deeply impressed. The thought of 300bhp through the front wheels seemed like a barking mad idea, but Ford had managed to pull off the seemingly impossible with the adoption of their clever RevoKnuckle system, which tames the torque steer if not completely eradicating it. We did note that it seemed as if the system was good enough to take even more horses than the RS produces, which you can now find out for yourself if you opt for the tuned Focus RS revealed by German tuner Loder1899 (catchy little name).