C. Van Tune is a former Editor-in-Chief of Motor Trend.

I received an email today that I thought you’d be interested in. It came from the PR department of the upcoming Los Angeles Auto Show, proudly noting how many “green cars” would be on display. No other vehicles were noted, just a long list of save-the-planet people movers: Seventy-one in all.

Ugh.

Times are rapidly changing for the worse in the car business if you’re a lover of gasoline-ignited horsepower. The days are numbered for today’s traditional performance cars, regardless of nameplate. The sobering slap across our faces is that all car companies (including even Ferrari and Porsche) are working on hybrid, fuel cell, and/or full-electric versions in order to meet the upcoming more stringent government mpg and emissions requirements. And regardless of the feel-good spin put on such cars by their giddy purveyors, the cold, hard truth is that driving as we know it will forever change.

Like Ewing has experienced, I’ve driven several full-electric “performance” cars. But while they can accelerate quickly, they simply have no soul. No muscular sounds of the engine revving, no rumbling exhaust note, no burnouts, no power-shifting of gears. Just a limp-wristed whirring of the electric motor(s) as the car is propelled. Sure, it may go 0-60 mph in five seconds, but the experience isn’t anything like you’re accustomed. I’m guessing it’s like the difference between sex with a blow-up doll versus the real thing. Only it’s worse than that. It’s more like the government has outlawed sex with real women and said you can only do it with a gov’t-approved blow-up doll from now on. They’ve decided it’s better for the planet that way. And, no, your opinion doesn’t matter.

Factoring in all of the above, I believe that 2012 (or possibly 2013) will become the lasting high-water mark for the worldwide roster of great performance cars. Sort of like 1970 was the pinnacle of the original muscle car era. But I’m also concerned that the game-changing impact of what’s happening today won’t be recognized by the public until it’s too late.

My advice: If you want to own a brand-new gasoline-powered performance vehicle, buy it now. I believe that the values of many of today’s most powerful cars will climb after they’re gone from production. Those machines will truly be the last of their lineages, as subsequent new models will become morphed into alternate-fuel-powered, amorphous, androgynous drones. To modify the old gun-owners’ maxim: The government will take my Ferrari 458 Italia when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers. Yes, even if gasoline has been outlawed and I can’t drive it. Hell, if that’s the case, then bury me in it.

Just a couple of years ago, the highlight of any auto show would’ve been performance cars, luxury vehicles and big, powerful trucks and their SUV cousins. For 2012, it’s the following list of High Mileage and Green-Tech Vehicles.

This is our future, like it or not. And it will only get worse for devotees of dinosaur-fueled performance cars like you and me.

40-plus MPG
Audi A3 TDI (clean diesel)
Chevrolet Cruze Eco
Chevrolet Sonic
Ford Focus SFE
Ford Fiesta SFE
Honda Civic GX
Honda Civic HF
Hyundai Accent
Hyundai Elantra
Hyundai Veloster
Kia Rio (2012)
Mazda3 SKYACTIV (2012)
Smart ForTwo
Volkswagen Jetta TDI (clean diesel)
Volkswagen Jetta SportWagon TDI (clean diesel)
Volkswagen Passat TDI (clean diesel)
Volkswagen Golf TDI (clean diesel)

Hybrids and Plug-in hybrids
BMW i8 Concept
BMW ActiveHybrid 7
BMW ActiveHybrid X6
Buick LaCrosse eAssist
Buick Regal eAssist
Cadillac Ciel concept
Cadillac Escalade Hybrid
Chevrolet Malibu Eco
Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid
Chevrolet Volt
Ford C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid
Ford Fusion Hybrid
Fisker Karma
Fisker Surf
GMC Yukon Hybrid
GMC Yukon Denali Hybrid
Honda CR-Z Sport Hybrid Coupe
Honda Civic Hybrid
Honda Insight
Honda Plug-in Hybrid concept
Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
Infiniti M35 Hybrid
KIA Optima Hybrid
Lincoln MKZ Hybrid
Lexus CT 200h
Lexus GS 450h

Lexus LS 600h L
Lexus RX 450h
Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid
Porsche Panamera S Hybrid
Toyota Camry Hybrid
Toyota Highlander Hybrid
Toyota Prius
Toyota Prius v
Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid
Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid

Clean Diesel Vehicles
Audi A3 TDI
Audi Q7 TDI
BMW 335d Sedan
Mercedes-Benz S350 BlueTEC
Volkswagen Jetta TDI
Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI
Volkswagen Passat TDI
Volkswagen Golf TDI

Electric Vehicles
BMW i3 Concept
CODA Sedan
Ford Focus BEV prototype
Fiat 500 EV
Mitsubishi i
Nissan LEAF
Smart ForTwo
Toyota RAV4
DOK-ING XD

Hydrogen/Hydrogen Fuel Cell
Honda FCX Clarity

Editor Sawyer posted an interesting piece about the UAW. Fact is, most of us who live beyond the Rouge and Detroit Rivers could give a damn about the Detroit Three, who we view as producers of inferior products, and companies that have screwed themselves and the American consumer for decades, playing on Yankee Doodle Dandy marketing to convince enough Americans to buy their products when the sensible move was a Toyota or a Honda. Much as I’d like to see them succeed for the sake of the Midwest, I also think the Detroit Three have earned their current place in Hell. Volt is nothing but a poorly designed rip-off of the Toyota Prius, and it’s heavily subsidized, by government credits and GM. People we know contend the Volt is more like a $50,000 car—with a penalty box back seat.

Much as some want to fantasize, a “Lutz” Malibu is no equal for a Camry or an Accord. It’s good, yes. I’ve driven them and they are not all bad—very nice steering and cornering dynamics, for a family sedan. Oddly, Malibu is good enough to make a friend pose this question: “If GM knew how to make an OK car, why did they make all of us suffer with Luminas and Corsicas for so many years?” Reap the whirlwind, GM.

Those of us beyond the Rouge and Detroit Rivers have minimal sympathy for whatever GM is now.

• GM was unconstitutionally seized, and the bond holders were robbed of their private property.
• The UAW was given control over a vast percentage of the company, under the dubious pretext that the workers were owed money for their healthcare trust fund—and Obama gave them a pass on Obamacare.
• In the IPO, the banks made tens of millions on commissions in a single day, selling GM to their friends in what amounted to a private auction. The regular guy was not allowed to buy into the game. Here again, the bond holders were robbed of private wealth, and the taxpayer was screwed. Hey, why wasn’t I allowed to buy a few shares through Schwab or Edward Jones? Another reason to hate Detroit.

In the year prior to the election, Obama and Rahm Emanuel wanted a new leader for GM, someone to make a good showing, someone with energy, someone to be the Mulally of GM. Obama needed a boost because America was turning on him. He was given several fine recommendations through backdoor research, but he and Rahm failed to act. They hired a research firm that turned up the usual cast of losers from Detroit.

You also have kooky Obama politics in the mix. When you only allow a CEO to make $1 million a year, who’s going to take on the biggest headache in American industry? Not a chance.

Here’s a thought for you Detroit and Washington pinheads: Franz-Josef Paeffgen, who just handed over the keys at Bentley. He’s the former chairman of Audi who turned around the mess of Bugatti, where he proved himself tough but fair with suppliers. Paeffgen made Bentley into something more than a one-hit wonder, with new products coming that put a solid base under Bentley. He’s also one of those rare Germans who loves America and is not an insufferably pretentious European. As a young man, he drove a VW bus across America one summer. He has a very American style about him, much more relaxed and adaptable than the typical German exec. Paeffgen knows engineering, finance, design, manufacturing, has dealt with the German unions, and has enough good years left that he could be the man on horseback to turn GM around. But the price would be pretty steep. We’re talking Mulally money, and then some.

Also, when you have politicos involved, well, they reject such suggestions because having a foreign executive take over an American company is more than Obama can bear. Well, Obama, here’s the juice on the founders and significant players of the remaining key brands at GM.

• Louis Chevrolet was a “foreigner,” a French-Swiss born in La Chauxde-Fords, Switzerland in 1900.
• David Dunbar Buick was born in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland, and cars produced by the company he founded were exemplary into the 1960s, even if old Dunbar met a sad end.
• Father of the Cadillac V8? The engine design that defined Cadillac throughout its successful years? Another Scotsman, D. McCall White, graduate of the Royal Technical College in Glasgow. He had worked at Daimler and Napier prior to joining Cadillac in 1914.You can find great detail in Automobile Quarterly’s book, Cadillac, The Complete History.
• And for good measure, Fred Duesenberg was born in Lippe, Germany, and created what were arguably the finest and certainly among the most grandiose and technically advanced cars in the world prior to World War Two.

The other possibility is everyone’s favorite soap salesman, John Krafcik at Hyundai, who is American, a Stanford engineer with an MBA from MIT, well schooled in lean manufacturing, and an amusing little fella with tousled hair and boyish charm. He has recently been compared to an Amway salesmen by that autoextremist guy, but Krafcik has partially turned around Hyundai’s dealer network, and one is certain his product and manufacturing knowledge has benefitted the Koreans, who are on a steep upward climb, and making excellent headway. But if I were John, with my family happily resettled in California, I wouldn’t give up Hyundai for GM and an early grave. Hyundai would be foolish to let him go. He is their perfect collaborator, the Bob McCurry of Hyundai.

Me? I’d go with Paeffgen, but I’m sure the price would be $25 million down, and many million a year plus stock, and the opportunity to partake in subsequent stock offerings. Three years to get the monstrosity of GM shaken out and going in the right direction, and another three to complete the job and enjoy 18 months of high fives and parties like Mulally is getting at the moment. Sideline Ed Welburn, keep Tom Stevens in his new sidelines job, aggressively sift through the remaining execs in marketing, fire any stooges wandering around, and after time to figure out who’s any good, put the right guys in charge of engineering. Sad thing is, before Lutz piddled away the opportunity, GM was loaded with incredibly talented engineers and designers. I can recommend a couple of highly talented old timers who would happily spend a week consulting on who’s good and who’s not before returning to their retirement homes. GM’s talented guys were forced to play to Lutz’s various fetishes—to harness them and save that company, you need a real executive, and most likely an outsider.

Then again, Mulally is kinda old and perhaps Paeffgen can be the successor at Ford. I see NO ONE at Ford capable of running the ship properly. Soap salesmen and dandies from Dagenham. At least Paeffgen at Ford would ensure one of the Detroit Three could survive and perhaps thrive for awhile.

The supposed Detroit Renaissance needs to be kept in perspective. Easy to make a profit when Obama has relieved you of billions in debt.

And the rest of us are tired of hearing about it. Heal thyself, and leave the rest of us alone. I enjoy and appreciate the German and Japanese cars and trucks I own. I have fond memories of the French, Italian, and British cars I experienced as a child. I’m a Californian, and don’t much care about Detroit. And from here out, unless forced to cover Detroit under duress, really, I just don’t care. Fix yourselves, or go away without pillaging the American taxpayers.

Editor Sawyer sent me this commentary from Road Atlanta.

“For years stick-and-ball sports have had their share of face painters and guys who wear multi-colored wigs while holding up placards with selected verses from the Bible. Racing, however, is a little different. And the proof of that is in this photo taken at the rain-shortened Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta last weekend.

“Over the previous two weeks, the area had been deluged with nearly 10 inches of rain, but Friday dawned hot and muggy with the temperature near 90 degrees and humidity you could cut with a knife. Peugeot stole the pole, but that didn’t deter Audi’s fans, some of whom showed unshakeable faith in the ability of the R15 and its drivers to vanquish the French during the 1,000 mile/10-hour race. Unfortunately, Saturday dawned with a thick overcast that gave way to heavy cloud cover and rain. Lots of rain. It was enough to wash the red clay down off the hills, and wash some of the hills down onto the track. Puddles turned into streams and streams into rivers, forcing race officials to red flag the race before eventually calling it complete after a four-hour delay. Peugeot was in the lead, giving it victory over the Audi R15s, and dashing the hopes of these cold and rain-soaked young men.”

Little did Editor Sawyer know, but the kid on the far left is the eldest son of one of my old pals from Buckhead–and the kid is a star lacrosse and ice hockey goalie. Approach with caution or you might lose your front teeth. At last year’s Petit Le Mans, this young man not only collected used tires off the Audi, but the team gave him a piece of busted-up bodywork. You think he’ll buy an Audi Clean Diesel after he completes studies at Georgia Tech? Let’s hope the California Air Resources Board is disbanded so more Clean Diesels can be produced and sold in the US.

And by the way, Editor Sawyer was hosted at Petit Le Mans by none other than Don Panoz.