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Caption:

Toyota Prius
48 mpg city / 45 mpg highway / 46 combined

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If there was one positive factor about 2008's energy crisis, it's that it forced consumers to put more weight on fuel economy when making car-buying decisions. And while we may have moved away from $4-per-gallon gasoline, fuel efficiency still places high on the "must have" list for a lot of new car shoppers. Now that we know how easily these price hikes can happen, it's better to be safe than sorry, right?

We've seen major manufacturers expanding their ranges of hybrid offerings, and for the first time, clean diesels are starting to make their way onto American soil, proving that you don't have to sacrifice performance for the sake of fuel consumption. Scroll through the gallery above to see out list of the ten most fuel efficient cars for 2009.

Note: This information is based off of the 2009 FuelEconomy.gov listing.

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French design powerhouse Hermès, known for its leather items in the fashion world, has stepped into the automotive world once again. With a leathered up Bugatti Veyron already under its belt, the car Hermès selected was this time was none other than the popular and stylish Smart Fortwo.
 
The Hermès touch for the Fortwo covers almost the entire interior with leather, including the door panels, dashboard and of course, seats. Minor details such as the handbrake have even not escaped the Hermès influence. Complementary to the leather is a special canvas known in the design world as 'Toile H' (which essentially means Canvas H in French) on other interior surfaces.
 
Being, French, modified, and chic, the Hermès Smart car is a wallet-annihilating $48,500— almost three and a half times as much as the base $13,990 model. But hey, what does money matter for a bit of style and flair? It will all seem even more of a bargain when you learn that customers can choose from a range of ten color combinations, with yellow, teal, black, red, green, and Hermès' signature orange among the list options.
 
+ Motor Authority: Hermès releases custom Smart ForTwo

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Japan has long been known as the world’s leader in vending machine technology, and while we’ve seen some extraordinary products tumble out of them in the past, they’ve never been anything quite so substantial as this treat from Tokyo’s, Shibuya train station.

Flexing its quirky advertising muscles, Smart is promoting the launch of its ForTwo micro car into the Japanese market, with this massive vending machine display. The machine is functional, though it will only give up information in cool branded Smart packaging, and not the cars themselves. That’s probably a good thing consider the spritely Fortwo would be even more difficult to buy with quarters than the Sunday New York Times.

+ CScout: Smart Vendor car vending machine in Shibuya

Germany’s Daimler said today that it was holding to its 2008 and medium-term earnings forecasts, saying that its focus on the premium market would help it to stay ahead of an economic slowdown.

We all know that you’re not bombing down the freeway with great speed or acceleration in Daimler’s Smart ForTwo, but Peter Valdes-Dapena at CNN Money says it’s not the car that’ll slow you down. It’s the gawkers.

The U.S. dollar has been weakening compared to the Euro. German automakers have taken notice and want to buy more American-built parts. It’s also the reason why Volkswagen is looking to build a plant stateside.

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How many vehicles can be filled with fuel for less than $20 per tank these days? Well, we know of at least one that fits this description. Click through to read about WINDING ROAD'S experience with the 2006 Smart ForTwo Brabus CDI.

Nate Luzod
Art Director