Click on the image to watch the video

Who says that frugal and fun can't go together in the same sentence? It could be argued that using Minis -- both classic and current -- in the chase scenes of the movie(s) The Italian Job made them fairly eco-friendly already... well, at least as friendly as a filmed chase scene could be. At least they didn't use muscle cars, right? But at this year's Sexy Green Car Show, Citroën has apparently decided that the classic scene needed to be recreated using as little fuel as possible. To that end, a thirty second film spot was made which features Citroën's little C1, a car capable of delivering nearly seventy miles per gallon while emitting just 108g/km of carbon dioxide. Fittingly, the three C1s featured in the advertisement are red, white and blue - the same colors as the Minis that were initially used in The Italian Job movies. We'll be honest... the video pasted after the break isn't nearly as entertaining as the original, but it's fun in its own little way.

Click on the image to enlarge

We're driving, driving, driving like it's nineteen-ninety-nine. Well, not exactly, but Citroën says that owners of its cars in the UK may actually be driving for less money per mile on average than they did eight years ago. Here in the states, gas was über-cheap in the year 2K, but in the UK, where both petrol and diesel has always been more expensive, the price was quite a bit steeper due to fuel protests in September of that year. In fact, Citroën claims that the increased efficiency of its models more than makes up for the increase in the price of gas that took place between the year 2000 and today, even when adjusted for inflation. It's not all good news, though, as the price of oil continues to rise. "Whilst improved fuel efficiency and advances in vehicle design have reduced the cost of filling up, in real terms, the economic benefits of improved efficiency could soon be canceled out altogether if prices continue to rise at their current rate, although our commitment to reducing CO₂ and harmful emissions will not be lessened," according to Marc Raven, spokesman for Citroën.

All of Citroën's C1 City cars and some C2 and C3 models will be exempt under proposed rules changes to the London Congestion charge. In all, 20 Citroën models would be exempt. The vehicles fall into the Tax Band B, which is a category of vehicles that emit less than 120 grams of CO2 per kilometer and would be exempted from the charges.

After hearing from Citroën about their excluded cars, I tried to dig through the government's website and see which cars from other manufacturers are exempt. But to no avail. If anyone has the list of cars that would be exempt under the new rules, could you say so in the comments? This BBC article talks about the general exemptions, but doesn't break it down by model type. There's a lot more detail in this BBC article, but it's focused on parking fees. Is that what Citroën means? Their release is awfully unclear, but I thought they mean the daily driving charges. Under the proposed changes to the parking fees, Band A cars (basically electric vehicles) would park for free. Band B cars (like the Prius and the Renault Megane dCi 106 diesel) get a 50 percent reduction and the scale continues until gas guzzlers are paying 50 percent more to park in London.

[Source: Citroën]

[Update: Yes, Citroën is talking about daily driving charges.]