Chevrolet’s press blitz for the Volt extended-range electric vehicle is in full force. Tuesday’s centennial celebration put the new range-extender electric car in the spotlight and you’d be hard pressed to find a newspaper, broadcast, or news website without mention of the little car that could. The parade of press continued Wednesday when GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz appeared on The Colbert Report on Comedy Central.

Given North America’s rapidly evolving shift toward small, fuel-efficient vehicles, you’d have to reason that things are going pretty well over at BMW’s Mini franchise—and you’d be right. We spent the morning having breakfast with Mini USA vice-president Jim McDowell, and learned a few things about how the company is doing during these belt-tightening times, and how it plans to move forward to capitalize on an increasingly Mini-friendly environment.

Here is what we learned:

• The Mini Clubman represents fully 20 percent of the U.S. model mix, and is performing above expectations in our market.
• The current Mini convertible (still on the first-gen “New Mini” platform) is in its last month of production. We will receive the new model in the spring, with the customer model configurator coming online before then.

While automakers worldwide are still working feverishly to bring future products in line with the tough new economy standards, the pace of change is likely to do nothing but increase from here on out.

A few weeks ago, we told you about Bob Lutz’s colorful denial of global warming. Now, on the GM FastLane Blog he has taken time out to explain his comment.

General Motors wants consumers to rethink their idea of Hummer. A survey by J.D. Power and Associates last year said SUV buyers avoid the Hummer brand because they believe its gas-guzzler image, according to the USA Today.