Challenge Bibendum: 7 Cars from The Sustainable Future

By Marty Padgett

Marty Padgett

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Marty Padgett is High Gear Media's Editorial Director, overseeing the words that skim across High Gear Media's portfolio of automotive destinations... More

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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the 2010 Michelin Challenge Bibendum

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The Challenge Bibendum brings the sustainable-mobility world together every year or so--though sometimes, the 2010 edition of the Bibendum didn't come together as quickly as planned.

It's a long way from North America to South America, after all. On day one, our travel group was cleaved in half by a missed flight to Rio de Janeiro, leaving four reporters stranded in Atlanta overnight while the other 5000 attendees took part in the opening ceremonies. Those air delays were only beginning; Rio traffic ranks right up there with Paris and Tokyo, and an hour's ride to Riocentro exposition hall proved the locals are braver drivers than you've seen in most of the rest of the world.

Formalities took their own toll. Brazilian president Luiz Inácio da Silva, popularly known as Lula, showed up 90 minutes late for his keynote speech. Then he rambled on for another 90 minutes before the green-transportation event could really get underway.

Once it lurched to a start, this year's Bibendum laid out a dizzying palate of choices, from participating in "high-level discussions" to sampling the latest takes on sustainable mobility from the likes of GM, Peugeot-Citroen--even Trikke, the company that builds a three-wheel vehicle that's almost a sportscar take on the Segway, which also was in attendance.

And then, the rain came. Between downpours on the old Formula 1 circuit at Jacarepaguá and an hours-long wait list to drive some of the vehicles in attendance, the Bibendum posed almost as much of a challenge to navigate as some of the more arcane panel discussions took to comprehend.

In between the rain and the crowds, we found a handful of cars with some clever take on the future of transportation--be it fuel cells, or active wheels, or even an iridescent heat-reflective interior. The most compelling cars from the 2010 Challenge Bibendum? They're right here, of course: