When you gotta drive, you gotta drive. Unless you're Leonid Stadnyk, the world's tallest man. In that case you're eight feet five inches tall, still growing and can't actually fit in cars. Or buses. In fact, the former veterinarian is so dang tall he never even bothered with a driver's license. The AP reports all of that changed yesterday when the 37-year-old giant received a specially modified car from none other than Mr. Orange Revolution himself, Viktor Yushchenko. Actually, Stadnyk was tired of walking everywhere, so he wrote President Yushchenko a letter, explaining his plight. Turns out that Viktor Yushchenko is a pretty cool dude; he enlisted the help of engineers at ZAZ in Zaporizhia to retrofit an Autozaz-Daewoo for a 2.55 meter tall driver with European size 64 feet (around size 25 in the U.S.). Actually, the Zaz boys did the passenger seat too, as Stadnyk can't drive. Yet. For as Stadnyk puts it, "I will resolve the question of a driver's license soon." Where will the reality TV crew sit? 

VP Dick Cheney may have been a little off on WMD, but oil is his thang. So when, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, Dick assured us  that our friends the Saudis are producing oil as fast as they can, you've just gotta believe him. Or look for the loophole. Last week, Cheney said crude oil prices in excess of $100 a barrel reflect the reality in the marketplace. "There's just not a lot out there, and some of that excess capacity represents high sulfur crude for example, it's not very attractive and not easily marketed." That's correct; KSA oil minister Ali al-Naimi has been complaining about a lack of buyers for excess Saudi sour crude for several years. The most reasonable conclusion: the U.S. is finally desperate enough to take the second-class sticky stuff off our allies' hands. Now that's the sort of speculation that will affect the price of oil.

Diesel Forcast is reporting that Indian firm Mahindra & Mahindra will be showing a diesel-hybrid powertrain on its Appalachian pickup at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit. Not much is known about the system, other than that it's likely based on the company's 50-state-legal 2.2-liter inline four engine. [Note: Mahindra VP for Engineering and R&D Arun Jaura worked on the Ford Escape Hybrid program before moving to his current position.] Mahindra already has a U.S. distributor, but has not yet provided details about the U.S. release of its pickup or Scorpio SUV in either diesel or hybrid diesel forms. This widens the race to release a U.S. diesel hybrid to three companies: Mercedes, Ssangyong and Mahindra & Mahindra, with hybrid giant Toyota vowing to sit out the diesel-hybrid competition.

Les Alexander is a money man (bond trader) who owns the Houston Rockets. Billy Joe "Red" McCombs co-founded Clear Channel Communications and owns a huge network of Texan dealerships and aftermarket auto parts businesses. The Houston Business Journal [via Mlive.com] reports that the two men have bought a ten to fifteen percent share in the Chinese automaker Brilliance, for a cool $100m. McCombs wants Brilliance to use the money to develop Chinese dealership networks, auto financing, used car operations and Internet auto sales. "There's huge opportunities in China for companies to set up aftermarket services like leasing, vehicle loans and extended warranties," says Charles Child, International Editor of Automotive News. "All the kinds of things that U.S. car shoppers are offered every day." If the venture is successful and market share grows, Brilliance hopes to import cars to the United States "at prices under those for the Korean Hyundai and Kia brands." Yeehaw! Or should I say Ni Hao!

Trading Markets reports that Kia shares dropped five percent yesterday after news emerged that its CEO would be stepping down. Unnamed analysts assure us that Chung Eui-sun left his position due to "poor earnings." But it's more likely a PR move for the Chung family. Ei-sun's father Chung Mong-koo narrowly held onto his position as Chairman of Hyundai-Kia after an embezzlement conviction and stockholder revolt. The Kia presidency is likely seen as an acceptable loss in exchange for some public goodwill, as Chung Ei-sun was widely expected to succeed his father at the top of the Hyundai-Kia food chain. Regardless of the weird Korean nepotism angles, Kia is in some financial trouble at the moment. Just before the announcement of Chung's resignation, Goldman Sachs released warnings about Kia's productivity and profitability. Is it me or would this make a terrific TV series?

It's been almost a month since the United Auto Workers (UAW) went on strike against American Axle (AA).  The news that American Axle CEO Dick Dauch's pay package totaled over $7 million last year (not including estimated value of stock option grants or projected pension values) won't help management's negotiating position one whit. The Detroit Free Press reports that Dauch's '07 compensation included $5.6m in stock awards (more than double what he received in 2006) plus a $1.47m base salary, up 9.6 percent from 2006. "How can you expect us to keep giving when they just keep getting more?" an unnamed striking worker asked. "It's just throwing another log on the fire for us to say we'll stay out here, we're going to fight." Yes, well, keep in mind that Dauch's $7m package represents a 9.2 percent cut from his '06 compensation (which included a $3.9m cash bonus). Unless you figure in what he might get from stock options, assuming the UAW workers settle or AA goes south of the border. 

UK policy makers are pulled in two directions. On one hand, they want to provide affordable "working class" housing in a country where development is neither cheap nor easy. On the other hand, they can't be seen to hurt a single leaf on a single tree, or warm the planet by a billionth of a degree (either Fahrenheit or Celsius). The answer: "eco-towns." The government is championing 10 new developments of 5k – 20k homes per town and no, I repeat no, traffic within their center. The speed limits on "key roads" leading into the new towns' [I'm guessing here] pay-and-display car parks (owner garages? fuhgeddaboutit) would be set at 15mph. The Daily Express reports that "driver pressure groups fear the proposals could herald reduced speed limits across the country, branding them 'an excuse to bully motorists.'" The UK's Housing Minister is unapologetic, to say the least. "“These developments will be exemplars for the rest of the world, not just the rest of the country," Caroline Flint asserted. "It’s critical that we get it right and I make no apology for setting the bar as high [or in this case low] as possible.” 

Jessica Morgan enjoys riding the Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART) to work in San Francisco, and she wants to take her mind and her car off the road. Problem: she can't find parking at the BART station. On weekdays, more than half of BART's 46k-plus parking spaces are filled by 8 A.M.. Some 45 minutes later, some 73 percent of the spaces are taken, according to data analyzed by the Contra Costa Times. "Lately, there are times when I've just given up and got on the freeway," says Morgan. Yet building parking lots is a costly and planning permission intensive proposition. The Dublin-Pleasanton station is finally unveiling a 1.2k car garage that cost the city $42m. (That's $28k per parking space.) Meanwhile and elsewhere, aspiring mass transit users are– gasp!–  parking illegally. So BART's Board of Supervisors voted to raise fines for permit violations from $25 to $40. "We're hoping the higher fines will eliminate some parking poachers." But, for revenue sake, not all. 

After months of playing hide and seek with the carparazzi, the Italians are finally (intentionally or not) losing the game. "Sneak peaks" are all over the web. Although the new model is only 33 percent official, we’ll probably be seeing the baby Ferrari this autumn in Paris. As every new horse-badged Italian makes pistonheads blue with anticipation, I've used the photochopping dream machine to ease their… minds. We known the "Dino" (which was its own brand way back when) will be a front-engined coupe, based on a Maserati platform, positioned somewhere between the Grantourismo and the F430. I went for a mixture of retro lines and high-tech accents. I think that's the essence of Ferrari: an illustrious heritage continuously enriched with the latest technological achievements. To connect the design with its “Dino” roots, I used the hood tri-opening vents from the original. To complete the picture, I’ve added the required amount of Maranello red. Andiamo bella!

[For more Avarvarii photochopistry, click here]

Justin called it. Yesterday, after GM Car Czar Bob Lutz diss-missed diesels, the TTAC scribe suggested that the feds would "intercede" to lower diesel pump prices and promote oil burners. And here we are, with news that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 has blessed the Cook County, (IL) Department of Environmental Control with a $103,297 grant to cut diesel emissions from 30 county vehicles. Yes, that's $3,443.23 of your hard-earned tax money per vehicle to retrofit 26 vehicles with diesel oxidation catalysts and four vehicles with diesel particulate filters. Oblivious to local climatology, Regional Administrator Mary A. Gade is in no doubt that we're all winners with this payout. "Reducing these emissions will help us all breathe cleaner air and live healthier lives." Oh, and in case you thought this is a one-time deal, the grant's part of the Midwest Clean Diesel Initiative which has "invested" $81m in cleaning-up diesel vehicles– so far. (They're practically begging for proposals to shell-out more tax bucks for diesel fans.) So, if that's just the Midwest…

If there's any surprise to be found in The New York Times editorial "Pain at the Pump And Beyond," it's that the Old Gray Lady almost acknowledges the effects of supply and demand on the price of gas. Watch carefully, or you might miss it! "The Bush administration can’t be entirely blamed for the pain at the gas pump. But its shortsighted energy policies — zealously focused on increasing the energy supply, with little attention paid to conservation and greater fuel-efficiency — means the country is far too dependent on oil that is both ruinously expensive and ruinous for the environment. There are several reasons for oil’s dizzying price spiral. Soaring demand in fast-growing developing countries like China and India means there is little oil to spare. The turmoil in financial markets — the White House can take a good chunk of the blame for that — has driven prices even higher, as investors have bought oil and other commodities as stocks and the dollar plunge." There's more Bush bashing (believe it or not), but the ed gets strange when it argues that the U.S. should raise taxes on gas. Huh? Sympathize with consumers for high gas prices, blame Bush and then argue we should be paying MORE at the pump? I guess rhetorical consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. 

As Maurice Chevalier so adroitly pointed out, "old age is not so bad when you consider the alternatives." However, as the bolus of baby boomers continues to boogie toward the end of the demographic charts, there are more drivers over the age of 50 on the roads than ever before. That creates problems; many senior drivers weren't that hot behind the wheel even before they became members of the bifocal brigade. With that in mind the AAA has partnered with the University of Florida's National Older Driver Research and Training Center to create the "Smart Features for Mature Drivers" web site. The site contains advice for chronologically enhanced drivers like "don't allow other drivers to pressure you into sudden moves" and "keep the radio volume low to minimize distraction." (No, they don't say "turn off your left-hand turn signal.") They even suggest what to look for when buying a new car, including large knobs, four doors, keyless ignition and proven crashworthiness. I know the AAA means well, but those of us who refuse to be seen in a Buick or Avalon agree with Mark Twain: "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." So excuse me for a while; there's an RS4 out there somewhere calling my name. 

Citigroup says $3.29 a gallon for gasoline is cheap. Why? (Read: are they nuts?) As Bloomberg reports, due to complexities of current supply and demand, gasoline may actually cost less than the oil it is refined from. Last week on the New York Mercantile Exchange, wholesale gasoline cost 50.4 cents less per barrel than crude oil– for only the fifth time in 20 years. Credit speculation on the differential between crude prices, gasoline futures and heating oil futures. Traders call this differential the 3-2-1 "crack spread," in which three barrels of oil is refined into two barrels of gasoline and one of heating oil. On March 17, the 3-2-1 sank to $7.395 and the straight gasoline-to-crude spread dipped below zero. Both rebounded later in the week, but, "Everything that we knew about crack spreads has fallen apart with the gasoline supply glut and the shortage of diesel," said Francisco Blanch, London head of global commodities research for Merrill Lynch. "I have been a bit reluctant to make calls on this thing. It's so volatile." Nevertheless, gas pump prices are expected to increase with summer driving demand and limits on production by profit-hungry refiners.

The HMMWV (a.k.a. HumVee or Hummer H1) entered production in 1985. Since then, 190k of these rolling beasts of burden have been produced. The military is now calling for a new design, dubbed the Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV). Motor Trend reports that JLTCs must be capable of "performing multiple mission roles to provide protected, sustained, networked mobility for personnel and payloads across the full Range of Military Operations (ROMO)." Considering tjhe carnage caused by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), it's no co-winky-dink that the first adjective is "protected." With that sad fact in mind, BAE Systems has developed the vehicle pictured here. Bigger and longer than an up-armored HumVee, yet still under the 16,800 lbs. air-transportation weight limit, the BAE's features a boat-like hull to deflect explosions. Same goes for the angled doors, whose widest point is at chest height. The BAE's passenger floor is flat; passengers can exit from either side of the vehicle. Moreover, all the components are totally modular. Even if insurgents/militias/Al Queda terroristss blow-up the cooling system, the vehicle is still operable. No word on a delivery date, but hopefully in time for John McCain to bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.

Around here, our favorite items are of the "News That Will Shock No One" variety. Hot on the heels of yesterday's "shocking" revelations that Lutz hates oil burners and the April Fool's strike truckers' shutdown protesting spiraling fuel costs, no one here at TTAC is, well, shocked that Bentley isn't pursuing a diesel option. For the time being. Motor Authority is reporting that even though Bentley's marketing director feels mega-torque, slow-to-rotate mills are perfect for the brand, customers (shock) simply aren't interested. Especially here in the US of A, by far Bentley's largest market. However, as diesel motors are as popular as petrol engines in Europe (if not more so), and even stricter emission and fuel economy standards are just around the corner, Bentley's diesel hand might be forced. Luckily for the ultra-rich, Big Daddy VW has a lethal arsenal of killer no-spark plug motors– including and not limited to a simply mental new 6.0-liter V12 that delivers 500 hp. God can only guess at the torque. And he'd probably drive one, too.