The Fit EV was initially revealed last year at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show, along with the information that US customers will be able to lease the 2013-model-year car, which has a range of about 76 miles on electric power, beginning in the summer of 2012.

Sadly, Honda has no plans to ever offer the car for sale to the general public.

Sometime later this year, the city of Torrance will also be receiving a Honda plug-in hybrid for demonstration purposes, though that will likely be a mid-size sedan, since that’s the platform the automaker’s existing plug-in hybrid drivetrain has been engineered to fit.

Enjoy.

The first crash test results for 2012 model-year cars were released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) earlier this month, and the news isn’t great. Under the stricter guidelines in place for 2011 and forward, only three cars have earned five-star composite ratings so far. Those three cars are the 2012 Cadillac CTS, Chevrolet Camaro, and Toyota Camry, and of those three cars, only the Camaro scored 5 stars in every category.

The composite scores are based on ratings (on a scale of five) for frontal, rollover, and combined side-pole and barrier crash tests. The side-pole test is new, and simulates a side-impact crash into a pole or tree that is ten inches in diameter, with a vehicle traveling at 20 mph, and impact occurring at a 75-degree angle just aft of the driver’s side A-pillar.

The chart above shows the results of the first 22 2012 models to have gone through the crash testing. NHTSA has plans to test a total of 74 models for this model year.

In story reported by Automotive News, Marchionne said that Chrysler will be forced to produce hybrid vehicles for the North American market, even though he believes they’re expensive to build, and despite personal skepticism about their sales success.

To date, Chrysler has remained out of the hybrid market, but now the company will have a Chrysler 300 with hybrid technology ready for the 2013 model year.

The Obama administration is in the process of increasing the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) requirements for light trucks and cars sold in North America. If current numbers are approved, the standards would increase from a slightly-higher-than-the-present 35.5 mpg in 2016, to an ambitious 54.4 mpg in 2025.

The latter number was calculated by the Environmental Protection Agency working with other branches of the federal government, and would actually translate to roughly 40 mpg when advertised on window stickers. It represents the largest jump in CAFE numbers since government monitoring of such things began in 1970.

In addition to the development of a hybrid 300, Chrysler’s 2013 lineup will include a clean-diesel version of the popular Jeep Grand Cherokee, with other diesel Chryslers destined to follow. Most Chryslers, Dodges and Jeeps that are sold in European markets are already offered in diesel versions.

And beyond hybrids, possible BEVs, and diesels, Marchionne said meeting the CAFE target could require more technologies including compressed natural gas CNG).

Volkswagen is not sharing the specifics of which two vehicles they’ll be introducing but most auto industry analysts are guessing that at least one of them will be the new convertible version of the popular Beetle, which recently went on sale in its hardtop version, sporting an updated design.

For the other vehicle, rumors abound, but most car bloggers agree that it’s likely to be a new variation of an existing vehicle, though it’s possible that the much-whispered about crossover with three rows of seats might be put on the pedestal.

If you’ll be in or near Los Angeles during the month of November, you can check out the Auto Show yourself. The media preview will take place on November 16th and 17th, while the actual show runs from the 18th-27th, including Thanksgiving weekend.

Last year, South Koreans bought 4,200 Toyota Camrys making it one of the best selling foreign cars in that country. Toyota believes that by producing the vehicles for that market in the US instead of Japan, it could lower the price, thus attracting even more buyers. Why is this so? Because by moving to American factories, the carmaker would be operating in dollars instead of yen, and taking advantage of the U.S. – South Korea free-trade agreement.

Apparently, even though actual shipping costs would be higher, the cost of production would be less overall if the cars were built in America.

Right now, Camrys destined for South Korea are constructed at the auto company’s plant in Toyota city, a Japanese city that used be known as Koromo, until strong ties with the car company precipitated a name-change.

There has been no announcement of when such a shift in production might take place.

This recall involves the recall of 310,773 Honda Pilot SUVs from model year 2009 through 2011, because of a defect in the safety belts. Specifically, says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the stitching that holds the front lap belts together may be either incomplete or missing. Either of these things could cause the belt to become detached, which could be extraordinarily dangerous if the vehicle was to crash.

The recall will begin around the 3rd of October, and will involve dealer-performed inspection of the seat belts in question, and replacing them if necessary.

Owners of Honda Pilots from the affected model years can call either the NHTSA vehicle safety hotline at (888) 327-4236 or Honda at (800) 999-1009.