Green Car of the Year; fuel efficiency savings at the pump

(Honda)

Car of the year
The Honda Civic Natural Gas was named 2012 Green Car of the Year by GreenCar Journal at the Los Angeles Auto Show last week. It's the only assembly-line produced natural gas car for sale in the U.S., and is the cleanest internal combustion vehicle certified by the EPA. It gets 38 mpg highway, and can go about 240 miles on a tank of compressed natural gas.

--NWautos staff

Fuel-efficiency costs
Raising auto fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 mpg by 2025 will cost the auto industry $157.3 billion. But it will save drivers more than $1.7 trillion at the pump, giving the plan net benefits of $252 billion to $358 billion, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Environmental Protection Agency says. The proposal, which now goes to public hearing, is expected to boost the cost of an average car in 2025 by $2,023 and light trucks by $1,578.

--The Associated Press