There’s little doubt you’ve seen Volkswagen‘s cute Darth Vader commercial from this past year’s Super Bowl. It was a huge success for the German automaker and became a viral hit, totaling over 40 million views on the brand’s YouTube channel. More recently it took home a Golden Lion advertising award at Cannes.

But the spotlight isn’t all its cracked up to be and the commercial’s success is now the target of a spoof ad created by Greenpeace. The environmental group is targeting VW, accusing the German auto giant of not supporting tighter emissions targets.

“Volkswagen has been running an ad campaign showing a cute kid in a Darth Vader costume turning on one of their cars. It’s been a big hit but for a company that’s essentially threatening the future of all of our children, we thought it was ripe for a remake,” said company representative Andrew Davies “The symbolism of Star Wars is far better suited to the kind of destruction Volkswagen’s policies threaten to wreak on our planet, than to a fluffy advert to sell more of their cars.” (Oh snap!)

The spoof ad asks viewers to then join the Rebellion by signing a petition at www.vwdarkside.com. A caption for the YouTube video reads, “We feel the good in Volkswagen. Help us turn VW away from the Dark Side.”

Watch the video after the jump:

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The all important metric of “conquest sales”, vehicles which steal owners away from another brand, has a new king, the Hyundai Sonata. The Korean automaker’s mid-size sedan has been a smash hit, and evidently done its part to steal consumers aware from other manufacturers.

A report by automotive analytics firm Polk suggests that for every 100 customers Hyundai loses when they abandon the Sonata for another competing product, they gain 365 customers who end up purchasing a Sonata. Furthermore, Hyundai has a retention rate of above 50 percent, proving that the company’s success isn’t just a flash in the pan.

[Source: Polk]

The all-electric Nissan Leaf had a triumphant outing at Pikes Peak this past weekend, netting itself the win in the electric production class with Chad Hord behind the wheel. Even though it didn’t claim the EV record that AC Propulsion did, the Leaf proved to be a formidable production race car turning in a time of 14 minutes and 33 seconds.

As expected, the Leaf was basically stock except for some interior safety modifications and a more aggressive set of wheels and tires. A huge advantage that the all-electric Leaf had as it climbed up Pikes Peak was the fact that it suffered no power loss due to the thin air towards the summit. Traditional internal combustion engines are known to suffer as much as a 30-percent performance loss towards the top of the hill.

Nissan also had to equip their race car with a high-pitched warning beeper to caution spectators, photographers and workers that the Leaf was approaching. It must have truly been an interesting sight to see the Leaf zip by without a single sound other than that of tires squealing.

Along with the Leaf’s triumphant run up the famed Colorado summit, this past weekend’s Pikes Peak Hill Climb recorded several records, including Monster Tajima breaking the 10-minute barrier, and Jeff Zwart setting the street legal car record with an 11:07.869 in his Porsche 911 GT2 RS.

GALLERY: Pikes Peak Nissan Leaf

You’ve had a taste of Fast Five, and now you craving more. Good News – NBC Universal has just announced a release date for the sixth film in the The Fast and the Furious series.

Even though the newest movie is still untitled, they’ve got some time to come up with something brilliant. Expect it to hit theaters on May 24, 2013. You may be surprised to see a May release, considering the fourth and fifth films did awesome with April release dates. But the studio is hoping to cash in with a blockbuster to open the summer movie season.

Because the Fast Five did so well (the worldwide box office receipts are set to pass $600 million), it shows that this franchise still has plenty of gas left. You can expect to see Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson return for the new film, along with Fast Five director Justin Lin at the helm.

[Source: Edmunds Inside Line]

Honda has just released a new video highlighting the many changes to the 2012 Civic Si.

Rather than bore us with chatty engineers, they’ve wrapped the info up in an animated graphic novel-style mini-flick. If you try real hard, you might even be able to discern a plot.

But enough of analyzing the piece like it’s the subject matter of a summer term college course paper, what’s important is that the new Civic gets 201-hp (and a big increase in torque), a new infotainment system, plus a power meter and VTEC light, both of which are gimmicky, but also kind of cool.

Click here to read AutoGuide’s 2012 Honda Civic Si Review and watch the video after the jump:

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Despite not having even been a week since BMW first announced the M3 CRT, rumor has it that all 67 units are already spoken for. This comes from a German publication, Autobild, but has not yet been confirmed by BMW themselves. It wouldn’t surprise us though that this limited edition M3 is already sold out, despite not even being made available to the North American market.

The M3 CRT features several weight-saving components including the use of carbon fiber components, a titanium muffler and lightweight carbon-ceramic brakes. In addition, the M3 CRT sports an adjustable coilover suspension on 19-inch wheels and tires. Oh yeah, the 4.4L V8 also gets a power boost to an impressive 450-hp, the same powerplant found in the M3 GTS Coupe.

Special edition vehicles, especially those from BMW, are known to sell quickly. And despite the M3 CRT’s lofty price tag of around $185,640, it looks as though this limited edition sedan won’t be an exception.

GALLERY: BMW M3 CRT

[Source: BMW Blog]

Reports of the BMW M5′s record-setting Nurburgring lap time are just starting to circulate now, well after we first covered the story last week. The source for the 7:55 run didn’t come from BMW, however, nor did it come from testing done by the automotive media, but from a website FastestLaps.com, raising some doubt as to its validity. Further calling into question the legitimacy of the number is the fact that it ever so conveniently tops the Porsche Panamera Turbo by one second.

We contacted FastestLaps.com and Krisjanis Zelch, a representative for the site, told us that he has, “no reason to question its legitimacy.” According to their source the time was mentioned by F10 M5 project leader Albert Biermannn during the debut of the car over the weekend at the Nurburgring.

Cautioning that he didn’t hear the news himself, Zelch did say that it came from a trusted source. “Judging from past experience, I am absolutely certain that this laptime is genuine (as genuine as lap time claims by factories can be) and in future I expect even faster laptimes resulting from independent tests.”

When contacted, BMW PR representative Dave Buchko neither confirmed or denied the time, stating that it, “is not an official time, so I’m afraid I’m not in a position to provide confirmation.” There’s no telling on if or when BMW plans to make an official timed run.

The 2012 Infiniti FX performance crossover is about to hit dealerships and will feature some extensive upgrades. For 2012, the FX model will receive a revised front grille and front fascia design, revised meter illumination, standard heated front seats on all models and the new Limited Edition FX35 AWD model.

The Limited Edition FX35 AWD will be easily distinguishable thanks to its exclusive Iridium Blue paint, as well as custom 21-inch 10-spoke dark alloy wheels and tinted headlights, as well as roof rail crossbars. Inside, the special edition model will get aluminum pedals, navigation, an Around View Monitor and a Graphite interior with blue piping on the floor mats.

Other trim changes include a new Graphite Shadow paint color which replaces the Platinum Graphite color, a new 20-inch wheel design on the FX35 Deluxe Touring Package, while the FX50 Sport Package gains an Adaptive Front lighting System (AFS). The quilted leather heated and cooled front seats will now come on the FX35 Deluxe Touring Package rather than on the Premium Package.

Two engine choices remain: the 390-hp 5.0-liter 32-valve V8 engine or the 303-hp 3.5-liter 24-valve V6. Both engines will be mated to a standard 7-speed automatic transmission featuring adaptive shift control and available solid magnesium paddle shifters.

The 5.0-liter FX will come standard with all-wheel drive while the 3.5-liter will come standard with RWD and come available with AWD. The 2012 FX will go on sale in October 2011.

* 2011 FX Model Shown

After having just set the Isle of Man TT record, Subaru can now add another to its list after driver David Higgins smashed the official hillclimb record at New England’s highest mountain, Mt. Washington over the weekend.

The record for the 7.6-mile Mt. Washington “Climb To The Clouds” Hill Climb was last set in 1998, with a time of 6:41.99 in the legendary Audi Quattro. This year, Higgins shattered the record in a Subaru Impreza WRX STI with a time of 6:11.47—handily beating out Travis Pastrana’s unofficial 6:20.47 record from last year, as well.

As per the 6,288-ft. mountain’s reputation, weather provided additional difficulties. ”It was a very big challenge because the road was still wet in spots and would turn very slick suddenly,” said Higgins. “With the clouds the visibility was so low I could hardly see past the hood of my car.”

The Subaru Rally Team moves on to Maine for the New England Rally, through the weekend of July 15th and 16th, where Higgins will defend his honor as Rally America’s points leader.

GALLERY: David Higgins Mt. Washington Record Run

The focal point of a new marketing effort by the brand, Scion has just announced official details on the tC Release Series 7.0. The latest special edition of the Scion sporty coupe this model gets the usual list of add-ons like a TRD body kit and a custom color – called “High Voltage” yellow.

Other upgrades include a set of 18-inch wheels, while inside the car there’s the usual color-matched trim, with a yellowish-hue to the seat fabric. And let’s not forget color-matched stitching on the steering wheel and shift knob, plus there’s a big reg push-button ignition with proximity-key entry, so you never have to actually touch the key fob.

It may not be anything overly special, but with just 2,200 models being built you’ll at least know your car is an original. Pricing is set at $21,625; an increase of 1,565 over a standard tC model.

GALLERY: Scion tC RS 7.0