Considering that the legacy left behind by American car companies has little to do with being clean, there seems to be an increased sense of urgency by some U.S. states to replace the older fleet of vehicles with newer, and therefore cleaner, vehicles. The states with the two largest vehicle fleets, Texas and California, have both implemented new programs which offer cash-based incentives to owners of older vehicles which fail current emissions testing. In Texas, up to $3,500 is offered towards a vehicle three-years old or newer, though income restrictions do apply. In California, there is no maximum income number, though the far-left state is a bit less generous, offering $1,500 towards the purchase of a replacement vehicle.

Canada is also getting in on the act with a program slated to begin on January 1 of next year. In a move close to our hearts, the incentive is applicable to new vehicles, new bicycles or even bus passes. Sadly, the value is a rather low $300. Way to go Canada; perhaps upping the ante a bit would make the program a bit more meaningful.

[Source: The Detroit News]

1977 Volkswagen Rabbit

The year 2007 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the first diesel Volkswagen available in the United States. Volkswagen is now making a renewed diesel push in the US market starting this year thanks to the availability of 50 state legal BlueTec diesels. As part of the anniversary VW is looking for two very special diesels, the oldest and the one with the most mileage. If you have an old oil burning Rabbit, Jetta or other VW diesel that meets one of those requirements and still has it's original engine, VW wants to hear from you. The owners of the oldest examples will get to drive a new Touareg V10 TDi for six months free of charge. Just head over to http://www.vw.com/tdi and enter. I wonder if my old friend Larry still has his '84 Jetta. He had over 250,000 miles back in '92 and was getting 65mpg on the highway. The VW press release is after the jump.

Related:

• New Jetta TDI is the cleanest VW diesel ever; VW looking for oldest, highest-mileage VW diesel

[Source: Volkswagen]