I was out of the office for the last few days, because I was in Florida for my little sister’s wedding. It was great, and I even managed to avoid embarrassing my parents by getting plastered at the reception. Hey, first time for everything. Here’s the news:

• The first Bugatti Veyron has been sold in China, for a whopping 3.5 million bucks. How’s that for Western decadence?  Autoblog
• The Bush administration doesn’t want the Big Three dragging their feet with the new CAFE standards, which is basically another way of saying, "hey look at us, we’re still relevant!" Automotive News
• Asimo, Honda’s cute little robot, will be conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in early May. The opening piece will be "The Impossible Dream," and will be followed by the composition "Submit Human Scum, Robot Liberation has Begun." Detroit News
• People really like the new Malibu. The average price consumers are paying is $200 higher than what folks are shelling out for the Camry. Good news for the General. Freep
• Employees in Ford’s Design Center will not be allowed to bring their kids into the office for Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work day. Maybe the company is still smarting from the leak of this 2010 Taurus shot? New York Times

The new CAFE standards, which will require automakers to be getting a fleet average of 35 mpg by 2012, have a lot of them throwing resources into turbo development, which will allow cars to run smaller and more efficient engines without, as they say, "sacrificing performance." Both Ford and GM have throttled back on big V8 development in favor of turbo’d V6′s—Ford, to kick off its Ecoboost program, will offer a 3.5L twin-turbo V6 for the 2009 Lincoln MKS, and GM is expected to do something comparable with its 3.6L. Turbocharged 6′s and certainly 4′s might help the automakers reach their emissions goals, critics suggest, but savings at the pump for consumers are likely to be negated by the preference of these engines for premium gas. What do you all think? Assuming gas costs would be roughly equivalent, would you rather have more boost, or bigger displacement?

Read more at Edmunds.

Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist is the latest to join the crowd of professional tantrummers who oppose the raising of fuel mileage standards to 35 mpg by 2012. On Saturday, the Republican lobbyist claimed that requiring the automakers to eke up their mpg ratings was tantamount to murdering consumers—by forcing them into smaller cars, putting them at greater risk during collisions. His argument is based on one 2002 study that explored the effects of the diminishing body size of cars in the 70′s. In addition to simplistically generalizing the results of that report to the new generation of compact cars, his position also ignores a lot of key realities about crashes, including the illusion of safety experienced by drivers of big vehicles, their greater likelihood of single-vehicle accidents and rollovers, and the tendency of large rides to transfer more energy to the bodies of occupants during a crash, resulting in worse injuries. As well as being steeped in ignorance, Norquist’s argument also implicitly promotes one of the more dastardly secret motives of SUV and truck buyers: the one that goes, "I’m going to drive a big vehicle so that when I crash into someone, my ride will hurt the other driver but protect me." Ugh.

It’s too bad that automakers and their allies are kicking up such a bunch of melodrama about raising their mpg ratings a few notches, because it’s clear that they’re being this way not out of any authentic concern for consumers’ "needs," but simply because they want to keep selling more of their biggest, most profitable, and most polluting models. In the absence of cooperation from the industry, the onus to reduce emissions will simply fall on drivers, most likely in the form of punitive taxes, fees, and driving restrictions. So thanks a lump, Detroit! Read more at The Wonk Room.

GM is gonna let the H2 die. With gas approaching $4 per gallon, they haven’t exactly been selling too well. And, starting in 2011, the H2 will be subject to the new CAFE standards (it is currently exempt, due to its 8,600 pound gross weight). So, no more H2 after 2011. Honestly, I’ve never been a huge fan of the H2, but I know there are a lot of folks on CarDomain who love them. More on the H2′s demise at Jalopnik.

Will you be sad to see the H2 go?

Update: Jalopnik is now saying it’s gonna stick around until 2014.