Filed under: Minivan/Van , Ford 2011 Ford Transit Connect XLT Premium Wagon – Click above for high-res image gallery Rejoice, America! The Ford Transit Connect is no longer just for plumbers and electricians. The Blue Oval has announced it will produce a civilian version of its hardcore work van. Called the Transit Connect XLT Premium Wagon, the vehicle will boast roomy seating for five and massive amounts of cargo area.

Filed under: Car Buying , Coupe , Performance , Ford 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 – Click above for high-res image gallery Ford has yet to officially release pricing for the 2012 Mustang Boss 302 , but a forum member over at TheMustangSource.com with some inside information has revealed that the special edition pony car will retail for $40,995 including destination and delivery. This places the Boss 302 almost squarely in the middle between the Mustang GT and the Shelby GT500 .

Filed under: Ford General Motors may be raking in the awards with its Chevrolet Volt right now, but Ford isn’t exactly going unnoticed for its efforts on the green front. The Green Blue Oval has won Nielsen’s first Automotive Green Marketer of the Year award.

Filed under: Hybrid , Sedan , Buick 2011 Buick Regal – Click above for high-res image gallery NADAguides has officially picked its Car of the Year for 2011, and the choice may surprise you. While the Chevrolet Volt , Nissan Leaf and Ford Fiesta have been big media mongers this year, NADAguides shunned those stars in favor of the 2011 Buick Regal .

Filed under: Sedan , SUV , Government/Legal , Work , Ford , Specialty 2011 Ford Police Interceptor – Click above for high-res image gallery The battle for law enforcement domination rages on. A gaggle of would-be police cruisers showed up at the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for public testing recently, and of all the competitors, the Taurus-based Ford Police Interceptor with its twin-turbocharged, direct-injected 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine managed to turn the quickest lap time of the bunch by beating out the V8-powered forces from Dodge and Chevrolet . It also ran from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 5.8 seconds.

Filed under: LA Auto Show , Hybrid , Sedan , Chevrolet , GM , Electric Joel Ewanick, VP, U.S. Marketing for General Motors, and the Chevy Volt with the Green Car of the Year Award The Chevrolet Volt drove off with the 2011 Green Car of the Year Award at the LA Auto Show this morning, beating out tough competition from the Nissan Leaf and ending a two-year diesel powertrain reign (at the 2008 show, the Volkswagen Jetta TDI was named the winner ; last year, the Audi A3 TDI won ). The other finalists for this year’s award, given out by Green Car Journal, included the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid , Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and the Ford Fiesta .

Filed under: Car Buying , Sedan , Hyundai 2011 Hyundai Elantra – Click above for high-res image gallery The rakish new 2011 Hyundai Elantra hits dealerships in the coming months and will be priced from $14,830 (*excluding $720 for destination) for the base GLS model with a six-speed manual transmission. This represents a $645 price increase versus the 2010 Elantra, though the 2011 model is $1,445 cheaper than a base Chevrolet Cruze and $1,440 less than a base 2012 Ford Focus – the Hyundai’s two main competitors. All Elantras come equipped with a new 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine from Hyundai producing 148 horsepower and 131 pound-feet of torque, and the six-speed row-it-yourself gearbox is only available on the bottom-end GLS model – a new six-speed automatic is standard with all other GLS and Limited Elantras.

Filed under: Japan , Ford , Mazda , Earnings/Financials Ford has announced that it will reduce its stake in Mazda from 11 percent to 3.5 percent by November 19. The move is part of the Blue Oval’s plan to slim its belt line and become a more flexible company in the future.

Filed under: Concept Cars , LA Auto Show , Motorsports , Performance , Ford , Racing Ford Focus Race Car Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery Ford has pulled the wraps off what it claims is a hint at its future global race car. The Ford Focus race car concept takes the standard 2012 Ford Focus hatchback and preps it nicely for full race duty. This includes gutting the interior, fitting a FIA-approved roll cage, strapping on AST performance coilovers with adjustable dampers and beefing up the sway bars, brakes, wheels and tires.

Filed under: LA Auto Show , Hybrid , Sedan , Kia 2011 Kia Optima Hybrid – Click here for high-res image gallery Kia is just now beginning to roll out its sexy new 2011 Optima , with the 2.4-liter GDI version priced from only $18,995 .