The relationship between Americans (I can't speak for other cultures, but I suspect this at least crosses the Atlantic) and cars is a special one. The first bonding, if you will, comes as a teenager approaches the age of aquiring first a learner's permit, then a full driver's license. The cars from that age become special in the mind of the new driver, particularly those beyond the reach of the novice of ordinary means.

I was lucky, coming of driving age during what most automotive critics routinely label as the glory days of the 20th century for cars--the 1960s. Muscle cars reigned and quirky sports cars from Europe were available and we hadn't yet focused on the negative aspects of the internal combustion engine.

The names alone evoke the time. GTO. MGB. Road Runner. Alfa Romeo. Cyclone. TR6. Javelin. The list could continue for pages. That alone signifies what an incredible time it was. 

Like most of my contemporaries, those enticing nameplates were well beyond my financial reach, but they remain to this day my automotive icons. My stories of the cars of that day, whether or not I actually got to drive them, continue to entertain succeeding generations.

But, I would propose that the driver coming of age this decade (2010-20) may have stumbled into a new golden age. It's a different time; in my day, the automotive discussion was all about performance and style and the currency was measured in 0-60 or slalom times, fuel injection and cubic inches. Now, the talk is as likely to run to grams/mile of CO2, esoteric battery chemistry or issues such as whether you want to own or simply rent a car.    

The new choice is not V6 or V8, but EcoBoost or CNG, Clean Diesel or Plug-in Hybrid. The choices go on and on and will continue to expand in the coming years. Already in Brazil the typical choice for their tri-fuel vehicles is: gasoline, ethanol or CNG.

More choice will be confusing for many consumers, but I think the coming generations will embrace it, make it the new normal and help usher in a new era of glory days. 

Who would have thought an odd-shaped commercial vehicle produced in Turkey would be the harbinger of the future of the automotive industry?

Believe it. The Ford Transit connect appears to be the prototype of the near-future of an automotive industry in transition. In a word, that future involves choice.

At the turn of the previous century -- the early days of the 20th century -- consumers jumping into the new automotive world had to not only choose their vehicle and its size, color, options, etc., but also the powertrain/fuel. At that time they had three basic choices -- gasoline, electric and steam. The three systems divided up the market fairly equally. Fast forward a decade as the country paved more inter-city highways and the slow, short-range electrics and fast, but complex steam machines fell by the wayside to the efficient gasoline vehicles (which actually would run on a variety fo liquid fuels). 

So it looks like the Ford Transit Connect may lead the way to a similar time 100 years later. At the Chicago Auto Show, Ford introduced the electric version of the Transit Connect (as expected), but also showed a CNG-powered version outfitted as a taxi (an upgrade to the soon to be retired Crown Vics), which also could be a propane/LPG-powered. These versions will join the existing gasoline and diesel versions of the small commercial van that are currently on the market.  

But that's not all. In their Transit Connect consumer brochure, Ford makes the point that they are working on fuel cell technology as the ultimate zero emission vehicle. Since they've been running much smaller Focus compacts as their prototype fuel cell vehicles and the Transit Connect can clearly handle a hydrogen tank (which is the same size as a CNG one), that would add another choice.

So the customer walks into a Ford dealership, ready to add this vehicles to his/her fleet. After settling on the color and options, the big choices come:

• gas (or maybe E85 capable)
• diesel (or biodiesel/renewable diesel)
• electric
• CNG
• propane/LPG
• hydrogen fuel cell

Chicago is one of the four major auto shows in the U.S. (along with Los Angeles, Detroit & New York, chronologically coming third) and has the reputation as the biggest consumer show, drawing up to a million visitors from the metropolitan area to view the latest cars and trucks. 

LA and Detroit were full of "green" cars -- electrics, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, clean diesels, fuel cells -- and featured fanciful concepts and soon-to-be on the market production versions to whet the appetite of show visitors. The media previews focused on the same vehicles and themes. The casual observer could be excused if he/she left with the impression that a major shift was on in vehicle propulsion and fuels. Not that there weren't the usual contingent of performance cars and trucks, but they tended to fade into the background of coverage.

Then we get to Chicago and it seems as those it's back to business as usual. Toyota introduces the new Avalon; Chevy a news Suburban SUV, Ford its Edge SUV and Honda its next generation Odyssey minivan.

Oh, everyone mentioned fuel economy (and how the latest models were better) and Ford also had electric and CNG versions of its Transit Connect commercial vehicle (and Kia even had a plug-in concept car), but the vibe of the press preview was decidedly deja vu. The view forward that was presented by auto makers was sharply focused on what might be sold this year and next -- and it was the good old internal combustion engine.

But in discussion with some environmentally minded friends at the show, we stumbled on an interesting statistic. A one mpg increase in the fleet average of new vehicles has an order of magnitude more positive impact (reduction) of petroleum use, greenhouse gas production and overall emissions than a million new electric vehicles on the market (a number not expected for more than a decade).

From there we got to talking about what can be done to increase the efficiency of the current fleet of vehicles (rather than just replacing them), noting one press conference at the show where Bridgestone claimed its new eco tires could increase fuel economy by 4 percent compared to traditional tires. Bridgestone Ecopia Tires 

Of course, those tires are more expensive than regular ones (just like hybrid or clean diesel cars), but the consumer who does the math will find they pay back not only their extra cost, but even the whole cost with reduced fuel use. So, are you ready to spend more to save more?