The gas powered 2011 Jetta, which made its own global debut earlier today in New York, is priced at $16,000 – roughly $1,700 under the current model. In the words of VW product strategist Toscan Bennett, “With the new Jetta, we’ve kept everything people liked, but also made the car more accessible to the entry-level buyer in the compact segment. We want people who had considered Jettas too expensive to put us on their shopping lists.”

As the year goes on, VW is set to launch the Touareg Hybrid SUV, its first hybrid, but it won’t be at all affordable. Instead, if the pricing announced in Europe is Later this year, Volkswagen will introduce the Touareg Hybrid SUV, its first hybrid, but it will hardly be affordable. Based on pricing announced in Europe, the cost of the Touareg Hybrid could exceed $90,000 in the U.S. As well, it will be joining a field of expensive luxury SUVs already overloaded with options.

The Hybrid Jetta, on the other hand, will most likely be priced in the low $20,000s, and is probably going to offer fuel economy stats in the mid-40 mpg range. It will also represent the first time an auto company offers both a hybrid and a clean diesel version of a car in a cost-competitive model.

Autopia is excited, and so are we. Why? Because the World Car of the Year organization hase just made Volkswagen’s BlueMotion brand the 2010 World Green Car of the Year. The award was given by 59 jurors representing 25 countries around the world. The other two finalists for this year’s honor were the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius.

The BlueMotion models include the VW Golf, Passat and Polo models, which have been fitted with ultra-efficient, and fairly clean-burning diesel engines.

In the jurors’ award statement, representatives of the World Car of the Year panel said, “It is not necessary to add an electric motor and a heavy battery pack to achieve class-leading efficiency. Based on Volkswagen’s common-rail diesel engines, the BlueMotion models are among the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the market. In fact, the Passat BlueMotion can travel just about 1,000 miles on one tank of fuel in the European cycle. As far as internal combustion engines go today, these models are the ultimate you can get.”

Speaking on behalf of Volkswagen AG was Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management, who was understandably proud of his company’s honor. In his statement, he said, “BlueMotion is one of the most successful efficiency brands worldwide. It stands for tremendous competence in efficient and economical drive trains at Volkswagen.”

The actual trophy was presented to Walter de’Silva, head of design for Volkswagen Group, at the New York International Auto Show.

Those tax credits were part of a national program offering clean vehicle incentives beginning in 2005, and provided up to $3,400 each for 60,000 buyers per automaker, before a 16-month phase-out period. When Ford reached 60,000 hybrids sold sometime before April 1, 2009, that meant that as of April 1, 2010 there are no tax credits left for any Ford Hybrids. Other automakers – specifically BMW, General Motors, Mercedes, and Volkswagen, still have credits left for the purchase of hybrids and clean diesel vehicles, but most of those brands sell only low volumes of hybrids, with the possible exception of Volkwagen’s Jetta TDI.

Currently, hybrids account for less than 3% of the new car market, which means analysts and advocates of the green car market are left wondering if hybrid tax credits have been phased out too early in the process. As the folks at HybridCars point out:

After a decade in the market, hybrids have become more commonplace and therefore, with tax credits and other incentives, could reach a much larger part of the mainstream market. Incentives could encourage automakers and consumers to put millions of high-mpg low-emission hybrids on the road—the original goal of the tax credits.

Instead of doing more work to encourage the purchase of very viable hybrid vehicles, however, most legislators have jumped on the newest tech bandwagon: electric cars, and plug-in hybrids. There now exists a combination of local and national credits including up to $7,500 federal dollars plus a $2,000 for the installation of charging equipment, in addition to state-based incentives, which are available to private buyers of green electric-drive vehicles.

So, what’s the problem? First, these vehicles are not yet available to the general public, and when they do come on the market later this year, even with tax credits they will be very expensive, and not very numerous. While some see this as a good reason for generous tax credits, others point out that the first wave of consumers to buy these cars are those who would likely do so without any tax credits, because they believe in the cause, and the viability of plug-in cars. Meanwhile, mainstream buyers who might consider a hybrid purchase with a bit of a nudge, won’t receive one.

What does this mean for the future? Some analysts believe that we could be looking at a several year gap in the right incentives for the right buyers of greener cars and trucks.

Audi’s board member in charge of technical development, Michael Dick, shared the news that future versions of the A6 sedan could potentially be completely hybrid-powered by the end of 2012, joining the hybrid A8 sedan which was introduced earlier this month at the Geneva Auto Show. There is also a hybrid Q5 crossover with to be launched in the near future. In fact, hybrid options may span Audi’s entire lineup by 2020.

Also by 2020, Audi has pledged a 30% efficieny increase in their standard internal combustion engines, and five percent of the brand’s available vehicles to be electric.

In an interview, Dick explained that the challenge with electric vehicles is, “…to make all of these things possible for series production.”

Audi CEO Rupert Stadler supported this agenda, speaking from Geneva, and saying, “In the future, our customers will be able to choose from an increasingly broad range of driveline technologies. We shall offer electric power in the best possible forms for a wide range of mobility needs. The hybrid driveline will be followed by all-electric vehicles.”

Stadler added, “The e-tron name will have an important part to play. Just as ‘quattro’ has become a synonym for all-wheel drive, so ‘e-tron’ is to be the Audi brand name for electric mobility.”

Recently, Audi created a new division devoted to the development and production of a line of high-priced e-tron electric cars, with the first to roll off the line at 2012. This is a departure from the standard take on electrics, which is to first offer smaller cars meant for urban driving.

VW Group, Audi’s parent company, wants to be the world’s top seller of hybrids and electrics by the end of the decade, increasing it’s market share of electric vehicles to 3 percent of it’s total offerings by 2018. Global vplans include the launch of the E-UP (a fully electric version of the Up minicar), as well as the E-Golf and E-Jetta in 2015. Preparation for this launch will begin with the debut of a fleet of 500 electric Golfs worldwide, in 2011, though current plans involve only the E-Jetta ever being sold in the United States.

I don’t argue with his logic. I keep my eye on the filling station on the corner and it’s gone up about 20 cents in the last two weeks or so. Without doubt the Europeans are better at small, fuel efficient cars than we gas guzzling Americans, so it’s going to be like a breath of fresh air to see some nice, small alternatives out there. VW has set a goal of tripling its U.S. sales to 800,000 units a year within the next ten years and the Polo should be a big help in reaching that goal.

Look for this one to go head-to-head with competitors like the Honda Fit and even the impossibly cute and efficient Smart ForTwo. The Polo’s 2008 vitals includes:

- four-door hatchback
- room for four
- 2008 base model $24,150
- with air, remote lock and such $25,800
- 69-hp, 1.4-liter, three-cylinder turbo diesel
- electronic, high-pressure, direct fuel injection
- variable geometry turbocharger
- five-speed manual
- overall weight 2,389 pounds
- 0-62 in 12.8 seconds
- top speed 109 mph
- 12 gallon tank
- range of approximately 700 miles
- a claim of 61.8 mpg (reviewers got 45.72 over a range of conditions)

Not too shabby and definitely a breath of fresh air in our SUV-saturated driving culture.

So, the three finalists for Car of the Year were:

- Hyundai Genesis
- Ford Flex
- Volkswagen Jetta TDI (a diesel)

And the three for the truck nod were:

- Ford F-150
- Dodge RAM
- Mercedes-Benz ML320 BueTEC (also a diesel)

Without a doubt, the Genesis is a big step in the right direction for Korean automaker Hyundai in its quest to grab a share of the “upscale” market while trying to hang on to its reputation for affordability. The V6 version of the Genesis opens at $32,000 and reviewers consistently say it drives like a Lexus or Mercedes-Benz. (Exactly the goal Hyundai set for itself from the beginning with this model.)

As for the F-150, really, what is there to say about a truck that has been the best selling model in America for 27 years? Not even a recession, plummeting auto sales, and $4 gasoline did this one in. For 2009 the F-150 is more angular and has a flatter nose while sporting a lighter chassis for better fuel economy and even higher safety ratings. (It’s the Top Safety Pick with the Insurance Institue for Highway Safety.)

While lots of people are not in the market for new wheels at the moment, when that does become possible again — hopefully sooner than later — these models are six to consider.