Buy a VW Rabbit, get a bike... if you live in Chicago

Volkswagen has been down this road before with the Jetta Trek back in the late '90s. This time, though, they're putting a green spin on it. Lime, to be exact. Chi-town Volkswagen dealers are giving buyers a bicycle and roof rack for the next month. The premise is that the dealer will encourage you to take your bike on quick, short-distance jaunts. Not driving a car at all by riding a bike is super effective at reducing fuel consumption, gridlock, and CO2 emissions. Biking is also way cheaper than exotic technological solutions; plus, you'll get some exercise, which is hard to come by in stop and go traffic. The cycle is still a Trek, dubbed the Lime, which is one of their newest models and has a three speed automatic transmission that automatically changes gears for you, in the hopes that you'll find it a more enjoyable way to ride. We'd probably hate it. It really is a great, simple solution that could work for a lot of folks. We know this is Autoblog, and this has turned into a bicycular love-fest, but we have to applaud the marketing stunt as an elegant (if gimmicky) way of focusing on our vast appetite for fuel.
[Source: VW via AutoblogGreen]