Volt, Vue 2, and Fiesta updates

Ford Motor Company

The L.A. Auto Show media preview kicks off today, so we should have official details on whatever interesting news comes out of there for Thursday's post --  stay tuned.

In the meantime, let's round up some other news on the green-car front.

• While talk of a federal bailout to save GM dominates headlines (related hearings in Congress kick off today - hang on to your wallets, everyone), development of the Chevy Volt continues. GM-Volt.com reports that the interior design has already received a few tweaks since its introduction, and they talk to the Volt design chief for an explanation.

• The 2010 Saturn Vue 2 Mode hybrid, originally scheduled for a December 1, 2008 release, has now been pushed back to sometime in Q1 2009 by GM, reports Edmunds Green Car Advisor. It's probably safe to say that this release timetable will be a moving target that's highly dependent on GM's financial status, as The General is delaying a number of product intros right now in a bid to save cash. As far as we know, the Vue 2 Mode Hybrid is still a 2009 Green Car of the Year Contender, however, which underscores the award's ridiculousness, as I detailed here a couple weeks back.

• In China this week, Ford has unveiled a sedan version of its Fiesta compact car. Why do we care? Because we're eventually getting the Fiesta here in the States, and Americans buy sedans. Hence, this Fiesta four-door is pretty much a lock to hit U.S. showrooms.

See you Thursday, when we'll run down the happenings at the L.A. Auto Show.

Alex Nunez is associate editor of Autoblog.com.