Looks like oil isn't the only liquid that will challenge car owners' budgeting skills in the near future. The Ottawa Sun reports that come 2008, a methanol shortage may cause two-fold hikes in the prices of windshield washer fluid. According to the Sun, the Vancouver-based company Methanex, which produces methanol for companies that produce windshield washer, is selling the critical ingredient at $832 per metric tonne, up from a low of $309. The Sun speculates that we may be looking at $5 or $6 a (4L) jug, up from about $3 right now. The cause of the shortage is two-fold: natural gas supplies becoming more difficult to come by and export tariffs imposed by (the methanol-producing nation of) Argentina. With one of the worst winters hitting the North East in 40 years, it seems like perfect timing.

From candy corn to Lincoln Continentals, Craigslist is the ultimate Turkish bazaar. It's an almost universally accessible free market for millions of folks who once paid (and paid) for the ‘privilege’ of selling their stuff. From a pistonhead perspective, Craigslist seems to be a great place to buy and sell automobiles. Even a brief scan shows that the site offers a vehicle for every type of appliance seeker, enthusiast and hobbyist. I’ve been using Craigslist as my site du jour for nearly three years. During that time, I’ve sold more than a hundred vehicles through the service. But I'm a pro, and I’m here to warn you that there's a dark side to the deal.

Ward's Auto reports Panda Ethanol Inc. is planning to build a new plant in Muleshoe, Texas. They plan to process 38m bushels of feedstock-grade corn per year, producing an estimated 115m gallons of ethanol. What makes this plant different from other ethanol plants? Yup. The energy source used to generate the steam in the refining process ain't gonna be electricity or natural gas. The Muleshoe plant will use gassified manure– a projected one billion pounds of cow shit per year, to be exact. The company estimates the b.s. will save the plant a thousand barrels of oil per day. If Panda (Panda?) could find a way to transport bullshit directly from Washington D.C. to Muleshoe, they could more than double production.

The future VW Touareg will be no big surprise in terms of design; it's expected to follow the current VW design line. I think it will borrow some “youth” from the kid-brother Tiguan, but display it with the macho attitude we are used to from the Cayenne/Touareg duo. The desert landscape in my rendering is intended to be in harmony with the dry-post-holiday-hangover-feel some might experience. Happy New Year!

[For more Avarvarii photochopistry, click here.]

Whatcar.com says Porsche's on-again/off-again cute-ute is on again. And if further diluting the Porsche sportscar ethos with a mini-Cayenne isn't bad enough, the aspiring VW owner has trademarked the Roxster name– meaning it'll show up on something eventually. (We would have gone for Paprika.) The newest anti-Porsche will be based on the upcoming Audi Q5, ostensibly to do battle with the BMW X3. Wait… isn't that what the Q5 is supposed to do? Anyway, the photochopped speculation on its appearance in the link shows something that looks like a cross between a Cayenne and a RAV-4. It's not due for at least two more years. Here's hoping Porsche's brass will use that time to come to their senses before they're forced (by whom we're not saying) to commit Hara-kiri with a Porsche Design Chroma Type 301 kitchen knife.

The American Family Association (AFA) has sent out an "action alert" to its members informing them that Ford's health care policy covers the medical expense of workers who undergo a sex change operation. Apparently, a full page Volvo ad in The Advocate's transgender issue got someone within Donald E. Wildmon's organization thinking about Ford's medical plans for employees suffering from gender dysmorphia. The AFA report claims "Ford offers medical benefits to help pay expenses of those who choose to undergo sex change operations. Ford pays for mental health counseling, hormone therapy, medical visits, and short-term disability after surgical procedures for employees who desire to change their sex." The AFA hopes the alert will help add adherents to their petition declaring its signatories' intention to "boycott Ford Motor Company automobiles until Ford stops supporting homosexual groups which are pushing homosexual marriage." The AFA claims the e-document has attracted 777,833 signatures. Given that the organization also claims its campaign has been the "driving force" behind Ford's dropping sales and Bill Ford's decision to step aside for CEO Alan Mulally, a grain (though not a column) of salt may be in order.

With 2007 gasping its last breath, the Detroit Free Press asked local civic and industry leaders for their thoughts on the upcoming year. GM's Slick Rick Wagoner took the conservative approach and wished for "an end to the housing and auto recessions in the U.S. in 2008; a comprehensive U.S. energy policy, and continued success in emerging markets." Mark "The Mullet" Fields from FoMoCo took an equally optimistic view, hoping "we don't continually talk ourselves into a recession" and wishing "cars and crossovers will outsell trucks and SUVs for the first time in many years." But every auto journalist's favorite sound bite machine Maximum Bob Lutz didn't mince words: "Now that we have the 35 miles-per-gallon fuel economy mandate by 2020, I am hoping that in 2008 'Professor Doktor' David Friedman (research director, clean vehicles program, Union of Concerned Scientists) and his 'highly-qualified' band of allegedly concerned, self-proclaimed scientists will turn their energy toward showing the world's automotive industry exactly how those numbers, using existing technology and 'costs of a few hundred dollars at the most' can be attained with a vehicle selection that even remotely resembles the cars and trucks Americans want to buy today." Go get 'em Bob!

When you make the market’s most un-SUV-like SUV– a large, fast, expensive, thirsty, luggage and mud-aversive vehicle– what do you do for an encore? If you’re Infiniti, you make a virtually identical smaller version that’s slightly more fuel efficient. And how do you convince consumers to buy this $40k FX35 mini-me? You cram it with enough electronics to keep an AWACS crew busy for hours. Strangely, that’s not the best reason to buy an EX35. Hell, it’s not even a good reason. But I’m getting ahead of myself here…

"And even those who keep paying their [car loan] bills may reach a point… where they simply can't afford another car. That could send vehicle sales down the drain, a nightmare scenario for an industry that has already taken a hit this year from slower consumer spending and higher gas prices." This little tidbit in the LA Times underscores a point TTAC made when GM first offered "Anyone with a Pulse" zero percent financing: easy credit creates short term gain leading to long-term pain. The Times identifies four warning signs that the easy credit chickens are coming home to roost. First, loan durations are growing. "Nearly 45 percent of loans are for longer than six years. Toyota Financial Services and Ford Credit are offering seven-year financing. And a few credit unions are tinkering with the eight-year note." Second, the loan amount is rising. "In October, the average amount financed hit $30,738, up $3,500 in just a year and nearly 40% in the last decade." Third, more and more customers are "backwards" on their loans, by a larger amount. "Today's average car owner owes $4,221 more than the vehicle is worth at the time it's sold." And fourth, an increasing number of these negative equity car owners are hanging fire on new cars– or simply defaulting. "S&P says delinquencies of more than 60 days on car loans issued this year to borrowers with the best credit are up 20 percent compared to those issued last year." Manufacturers and consumers alike are learning there's no such thing as a free car.

Consumeraffairs.com reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has rejected a request from Ralph Nader's Public Citizen advocacy group to revoke some of Ford's Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) credits. Public Citizen claimed that 2003 – '05 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable vehicles "do not perform up to standards when fueled with E85." Public Citizen argued that an unknown number of these 228k Flex Fuel Fords wouldn't start when filled with corn juice. What's more, some of the E85-fed Taurus engines would stall, creating a safety hazard. NHTSA demurred, saying that E85-related engine stalling was "rare." And anyway, simple repairs fixed the problem. While the issue clearly relates to Ford's engineering prowess, the idea that a tankful of E85 can make a car fail to start or stall probably isn't an idea that the Renewable Fuels Association would like to see widely disseminated. You're welcome.

Now that we're in the post-Christmas pre-New Year interregnum, the media is, as usual, attempting to fill the void with retrospectives. The New York Times Dealbook looks back at the wheelers and dealers that filled their column inches in '07. And you just knew Cerberus' takeover of Chrysler Corp. was going to be in there somewhere. Somewhat surprisingly, scribe Andrew Ross Sorkin decided to upbraid the private equity firm for its lack of PR skills, rather than its decision to invest billions in a sinking ship. Perhaps that's because Cerberus is only slightly more media-friendly than Leonid Brezhnev's Kremlin. Well, not exactly. While we were expecting criticism of Cerberus' decision to dump combative Chrysler Spinmeister Jason Vines, and the resulting circling of Chrysler's PR wagons, Sorkin seems to think Cerberus' management style makes them unlikeable. "To lead Chrysler, Cerberus chose Robert Nardelli, the former chief of Home Depot, whose high-handed style helped get him ousted from his previous job. Layoffs grew, but so did losses. Then Cerberus dented its deal-making reputation by walking away from two previously agreed-to deals — for H&R Block’s mortgage arm and for United Rentals. So far, this charm offensive is light on the charm and heavy on the offensive." Don't look for Cerberus to answer Sorkin's emails anytime soon. 

I know TTAC is the hard man of the autoblogosphere, but sometimes I can't resist taking a walk on nerdy side (and the pistonhead girls go do do do do…). The International Herald Tribune addresses one of rivet counters' most vexing questions, as above. Previously, on "You Need To Get A Life," Trib author Jan Freeman declared that the appropriate term for more than one Toyota Prius was "Prioria." Reader Christopher Casey took exception, kinda. "You were right that Prius is the neuter nominative/accusative singular of the adjective prior, but the plural forms of the word – which means 'earlier, better, more important'- would be Priora, not Prioria." Freeman rang-up Harry Mount, author of "Carpe Diem" (a.k.a. "Latin isn't half as dull as you think it is. More like a quarter"). "Yes, it's Priora," he told Freeman, "because it's neuter plural. But if you cheated a bit and made the car masculine or feminine – and I do think of cars as female – then it would be Priores. And Priores has nice undertones of grandness – Virgil used it to mean 'forefathers' or 'ancestors.' So if your hybrids are named for the dames of ancient Rome – Drusilla, Octavia, Agrippina – you're granted poetic license. Otherwise, Priora is the Latin plural you're looking for." Mea culpa! TTAC's been using Prii. We sit corrected. 

If you're looking for a reason to be hopeful for strong sales of Pontiac's forthcoming G8– an imported Australian Holden by any other name– News.com.au's got a story for you. The news agency reports that sales of Holden's V8-engined cars down under are up 183 percent year-on-year. Of course, we're talking about absolute numbers so small they wouldn't even twitch the sales needle for GM. "We look like we'll sell between 11,000 and 12,000 V8 Commodores and Caprices," John Lindsay revealed. Still, "People seem to be adjusting to higher fuel prices. It's also important to remember that modern V8s are more economical than those of the past." The article points out that all may not be as it seems; sales of Ford's V8-powered cars are flat (the last of the great V8 Interceptors?) and overall Ozzie sales were up for the period. Still, it's true that V8s haven't reached a commercial or technological dead end. And the idea that consumers prefer rorty V8s is a nice thought for Motown denizens who [still] share GM's Lutzian perspective on the average consumer's desire for maximum horsepower. 

Manitoba is set to become the second province of Canada to adopt the same emissions standards as California. CTV News reports that Manitoba premier Gary Doer– fresh off winning his third election– is hot (so to speak) to make the Canadian province Kyoto compliant. "[Cars] represent 33% of our challenge," says the former corrections officer. Earlier this month, Québec became the first province to adopt California's stringent auto regs, setting average emissions targets that must be attained as early as 2010 (CAFE by any other name?). Doer suggests that Manitoba's measure is only a first step on the way to more stringent federal standards. He notes that having provinces and states enact tailpipe standards produces a piece-meal approach to Kyoto and, thus, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Readers are invited to gloss over the fact that pollution of any kind has a global scope, not a national one.

They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Of course that was NEVER going to apply to me and my nerdy, car-clueless Father. He drove boxy Detroit stripper sedans. I drove VW’s and Peugeots. He’s a world-renowned neurologist– but totally impractical. I never finished high school– but rebuild cars. I grew-up in the time when political pundits pronounced our cultural chasm a “generation gap.” Except ours was more like the Grand Canyon. Or so I thought…