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Capitol Hill notebook: Obama defends autos, Akerson defends the Chevrolet Volt

Less than 10 hours after President Barack Obama wrapped up his third State of the Union address, manufacturing and automobiles continued to command the spotlight on Wednesday in Washington. The day began with General Motors CEO Dan Akerson defending the Chevrolet Volt before a U.S. House committee hearing, saying he didn't want it to become a "political punching bag," according to testimony provided by the company.

Nissan plots BladeGlider production (2014)

By Ben Pulman Motor Industry 03 January 2014 10:30 Last month we brought you spyshots of Nissan’s new Almera hatchback; this week it’s the altogether more enticing news that bosses at the Japanese car giant hope to put the wacky BladeGlider concept car into production. The ‘swept wing’ BladeGlider is inspired by Nissan’s ZEOD RC, the company’s entry into the 2014 Le Mans 24-hours, and it seems production of the crazy concept is a possibility. ‘It’s in our mid-term plan,’ Nissan chief planning officer Andy Palmer revealed to CAR.

Ford Focus ECOnetic (2010) revealed at Frankfurt

Ford has revealed the 2010 Focus ECOnetic at Frankfurt For the first time Ford has made Start-Stop an option, which was something we thought should be added to the Fiesta ECOnetic when we had it. The Focus ECOnetic also benefits from Smart Regenerative Charging and something called Tension FEAD (no, we had no idea either, but apparently it reduces friction) which help make the new ECOnetic Focus more economical and less polluting. With Stop-Start fitted to the 1.6 litre Duratorq TDCi the Focus manages to hit the magic 99g/km mark.