Spradley Barr Fort Collins

The non-hybrid variant of the 2012 Hyundai Sonata has been recognized for the seventh year in a row as one of the American Council for Energy Efficient Economy's annual "Greener Choices" for automobiles for its environmentally-friendly nature. The "Greener Choices" list ignores hybrid and electric vehicles-highlighting widely-available gasoline-powered vehicles (with automatic transmissions) instead. It shows that there are many green options available across the entire automobile market.

September is right around the corner and you know what that means. Mazda will unveil its all-new CX-5 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, in Germany.

As you probably can tell, we're pretty excited about the whole thing. How could we not be? The official unveiling of the CX-5 brings us one step closer to the day when it will grace Spradley Barr Ft. Collins's showroom floors, early next year.

The new CUV model

Over the past few months the topic of the next-generation Toyota Yaris, which debuted in Japan early this year, has filtered into a deafening silence. Don't worry! It's still in the works.

See, the problem isn't with the Yaris itself. It's simply that Toyota has been so busy playing catch up after the record-breaking earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that they've had their priorities focused elsewhere... specifically with resuming

• Ford's new "Take Charge" contest on its Electrified Vehicle Facebook page (www.facebook.com/FordElectricVehicles) asks consumers to share what actions they are taking to help the environment, with winners being awarded an electric vehicle experience
• Facebook users can offer ideas in four categories centered around lowering their impact on the environment. After submitting their ideas, users can reach out to their social network on Facebook or Twitter to share their submitted ideas and

The MAZDA2 is a relatively newer model in the United States and Canada. But over in its home base of Japan, 2 has been a variant available to customers for years. Now, the Japanese auto maker is offering up its first all-electric MAZDA2, dubbed Electric2. Mazda is the latest manufacturer to build an electric version of an existing gasoline car.

The car just entered a production phase overseas, and its likeability will be tested in