Very Efficient Vehicles

With a great variety of markets and product channels, we see a direct line between leading edge and common use--fashion, electronics, etc. But, automotive seems perpetually stalled--maybe it is the ecosystem's trend toward entropic paralysis:

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/3-teams-win-fuel-efficient-car-prize/?src=twt&twt=nytimesdealbook