This morning, a friend of mine hit me up some car buying advice. He loves his Acura MDX, but gas prices are making him dizzy. So, he wanted to know which Hybrid to get. I sent him over to the Honda Civic site so he could see that while the base Civic sedan stickers for $15,010, the hybrid version lists for $22,600. I then told him to figure out just how much driving it would take to recoup a $7,590 premium, ever with today's shocking prices. My pal was surprised — but thankful — and is now on the lookout for a used Civic, since all he wants to do is save money. Our brief encounter left me thinking: one day I'll need a new car. What on earth am I going to buy? The red blooded 12-year-old in me is seriously considering the Pontiac G8, especially if they stick a manny-tranny inside. More seriously, I have a hankering for the Caminoized version of said G8. But, we're talking 6.0-liter V8s and oil hit $115 a barrel today. I had seriously considered the BMW 135i, but after Justin's review, I've seriously unconsidered it. Another WRX? No, they're pretty spazztastic these days. Oooh, what about the STI? Oh right, that's now a $40K car. And I think the car I want most is a GT-R. So, I really have no idea. You?

Autocar reports that Acura is finalizing the redesign of their new, front-engined NSX. The latter-day version of the Ayrton Senna-fettled "everyday supercar" will lead the luxury brand's charge into the Eurozone come 2010. Pistonheads may recall that the new NSX was supposed to debut at last year's Tokyo Auto Show. Honda's bosses were unimpressed with the final design; they've pushed the release back a year. The nose of the 550hp V10-powered monster has received special attention. Sources inside Honda tell Autocar that "it now has Chevrolet Corvette overtones." The NSX will be followed by a range of rear wheel-drive (RWD) sedans. First out of the box: a 7-series-fighter set to debut in 2015. And then, perhaps, they'll release an S2000-based sportscar aimed at Mercede's SLK. Acura faces an uphill battle in establishing a foothold in Europe's brand-loyal luxury market. But a revamped lineup of capable, RWD performance machines can only help.

Wired Magazine's Autopia blog reports on Ford's use of nanotechnology to lighten cars and improve fuel efficiency. Ford announced its efforts to harness the manipulation of materials properties at the atomic level at the 2008 SAE Conference, estimating 70 percent of its automotive materials will be modified or redefined by nanotechnology by 2015. Fords says its nano-scientists (speciality, not size) are working to reduce vehicle weight by 250 to 750 pounds across the board. Ford will also be exploringnanotechnology to create brighter, non-chipping, heat-dissipating paint and improved alloys for engine castings. A German Ford lab has already developed a nano-coating spray which could replace cast-iron cylinder liners. Bringing the cost down on such bleeding-edge developments will be a major issue. But Ford's goal of significantly lightening its entire fleet is laudable. Lighter cars are more efficient, handle better and accelerate faster… Who doesn't want more of that?

S&P has upgraded Daimler's long term corporate credit rating, from a BBB+ to an A-. According to Thomson Financial News (via CNN Money), the S&P "expects Mercedes-Benz cars to be able to improve profitability further, based on the new models available and the better resilience to adverse economic trends generally attributed to premium cars, despite the weakening of the U.S. automotive market, where about one-fifth of Mercedes-Benz cars are sold." Got all that? With earnings on track to meet investor goals, Daimler is not resting on its laurels. The Car Connection reports that Daimler will be upping R&D spending, with plans to drop $21b between now and 2010. Claiming that Daimler has made significant breakthroughs in Lithium Ion battery cooling systems, CEO Dieter Zetsche laid out Daimler's development path. "(It is) clear that we won't be changing our strategy and building only small cars from now on now on," says Dr. Z. "Our route to sustainable mobility is based on technological innovations, not renunciation… we aim to offer at least one model in each of the Mercedes-Benz core model series that a leader in fuel consumption." But, in what appears to be a case of either ADD or indecision, Daimler will continue to push hydrogen vehicles. "To date, Daimler has made more progress with fuel cell technology than any another automaker and we plan to expand our lead in this area," say Zetsche.

Chrysler LLC announced today that it has opened a design office in China, a move the Detroit Free Press calls "part of a much larger expansion by the Auburn Hills automaker to beef up its product design efforts outside the United States." While Chrysler slashes as many as 25k North American jobs this year, it plans on recruiting 1k engineers outside from outside the United States. Chrysler's Chinese operations are expanding to include more local suppliers, in India the local engineering staff is set to double. Arguing that Chrysler is designing models specific to rapidly growing markets abroad, VP for product development Frank Klegon points to the success of its Mexico division (which is set to add 450 new staff). "They're already doing unique product for Mexico that's designed and developed in Santa Fe and for sale in Mexico by themselves," says Klegon. "It's a resource center that we're building upon. They started out as more of a vehicle development and test facility and moved them into design." But something doesn't add up here. If this is all about "unique products for unique markets," then why is Chrysler selling a rebadged (Chinese) Chery A1 in Mexico as a Dodge?

Find something bad to say about biofuels, and its defenders will likely simply point to second-generation biofuels as the way forward. The problem has been that nobody has actually been commercially producing a second-generation biofuel based on biomass instead of food-grade grains and oils. Until now, that is. Auto Motor und Sport reports that Choren, a joint venture of Shell, Daimler and Volkswagen, has opened the worlds first biomass-to-liquid (BTL) fuel plant in Freiberg, Germany. It will be a few months before the first drops of BTL diesel hit the market, but once production ramps up the plant will pump out 4.75m gallons of the fuel every year. Choren's BTL process involves relatively dry (10-15 percent moisture) biomass which is gasified under high heat and then liquified (biofuel wonks can check out more details at Green Car Congress), extracting a diesel fuel. The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Heidelberg reckons that although the BTL fuel is net beneficial when compared to Soy or Rapeseed-based biodiesel, there are emerging technologies which could better utilize the biomass used in the BTL process. The German Minister of Industry likewise warns that while production costs are low when making small batches using straw and forest waste, further research is needed to better understand the impacts of broad proliferation of the biofuel. At least it won't raise the price of beer!

Auto Express has new details and a rendering "produced using exclusive insider information" of VW's new city car, the up! Shown in concept form at the 2007 Frankfurt IAS, the up! is a rear-engined city car, powered by a 600cc turbocharged two-pot engine in both diesel and gas form. Eco-friendly is the name of the game for the up!, which is targeting 100g of C02 per km driven and an eye-popping 94mpg. The rear-engine design is not in aid of tail-happy hoon potential, but rather improving crumple zones. A five-door MPV version is also planned, although it will likely have the same height and wheelbase as the tiny three-door. The up! will go on sale first in emerging markets like China and India, where stripped-out versions will retail for about $8k. More luxurious versions will head to Europe later, including rebadged SEAT and Skoda models that will run consumers nearly $15k. With the success of Fiat's 500, BMW's MINI, Daimler's SMART and (presumably) Toyota's iQ, the subcompact city car market is finally approaching maturity. [Ed: We resisted saying the only way is up! Because it isn't. Obviously.]

Usually new Chinese cars are either knock-offs or just look horrendous (see Chery's V2). But designs in the PRC have been getting better (how could they not?) And now Roewe– the company that bought the rights to make the Rover 75 sedan after the British company imploded a few years ago– has reskinned and updated the 75. And it looks outstanding. In fact, this might be the best-looking Chinese car to date. The Roewe 550 is a midsize sedan, on the scale of a Honda Accord. Much of the design and engineering work was done by boffins from the European engineering firm Ricardo, a subcontracter to Roewe's owner SAIC. The interior cribs some design elements from BMW and Renault. But overall this is a very impressive vehicle for a country known for platypusian vehicles and inelegant knock-offs.

Click here for Pixamo gallery 

Yesterday, managers at GM's Delta Township plant (Buick Enclave, Saturn Outlook, GMC Acadia) sent workers home after a strike at Alliance Industries left them carpetless. Workers were told to report back to work this morning in case the parts were there. This morning, carpets were the least of GM's problems. The Detroit Free Press reports that UAW workers at Delta Township walked out on strike over the terms in their local contract. They had threatened to strike over the definition of "core" vs. a "non-core" job under the UAW-negotiated two-tier wage scale. It's too early to know what effect the walk-out will have or how long it'll last, but between this and the strikes against American Axle and Alliance Industry, the UAW is taking a big bite out of GM's business. While The General probably welcomed the shutdowns at first– it gave them a chance to clear out a backlog of trucks– they're starting to feel the pressure. Can they afford to dig into their diminishing cash hoard relieve it? Can they afford not to?

While it seems perfectly natural to assume that clicks on cars reveal trends down at the showroom, I'm not entirely convinced. For example, Autoblog's post on GayWheels top ten researched vehicles would have you believe that a large number of Dodge Caliber buyers are that way inclined. So when the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) put out a press release claiming "interest in motorcycles increases as commuters seek two-wheel alternatives" based on their website's traffic, I was interested to see if they mentioned any "real world" impact. To their credit, they did, right from the git-go. "Motorcycle buying interest at NADAguides.com increased 48 percent in March 2008 compared to March 2007, even though sales of motorcycles were down over seven percent at the end of 2007, with NADAguides.com estimating sluggish sales so far this year." And yet, motorcycle ed Lenny Sims is ready to climb out on that limb. "We believe the current state of the economy, coupled with recent summer fuel price predictions, has caused consumer mindset about motorcycles to shift. In our opinion, motorcycles have become attractive options as primary vehicles for daily drivers — due to their fuel efficiency — and are no longer considered just a luxury, 'secondary-vehicle' purchase." Your take?

In a comment on Tesla Birth Watch 43, Tesla flackmeister Daryl Siry addressed some of the questions about Tesla's tranny problems. "The Xtrac transmission never had reliability issues. It has proven rock solid over the years and for that reason we are using an Xtrac box for our interim transmission. The reason we moved away from that design was that we had originally tried to design the gearbox to have clutchless shifting and to accomplish the shifts entirely through motor control but this proved difficult on our end due in part to the time it takes to spin down a heavy rotor that is rotating very quickly." Gotcha. So what precipitated the Magna lawsuit? "We’ve established the fact that the units delivered were not working well so that led to a disagreement between the parties as to what was owed on the contract. These types of disagreements sometimes end up in court." Siry also mentioned that he'll be in Monaco next week, showing production car number four before it's shipped to the states and placed in the loving arms of its more-than-patient owner. This led us to wonder: if car number four will be ready to show off next week, what happened to Tesla Roadsters two and three? Have they been delivered yet? If not, where are they in the pipeline? And how long before they'll be on the streets? Over to you, Daryl…

If you had any doubts that Californians are serious about de-warming the planet, San Francisco regulators are determined to remove your lack of faith. The New York Times reports that "Air quality regulators in the San Francisco Bay Area appear set to begin charging hundreds of businesses in the region for their emissions of heat-trapping gases." Ready, set, appear set! The Old Gray Lady reports that the proposed tax on greenhouse gas "pollution" is a pittance– just 4.4 cents per ton of carbon dioxide emitted– and will hit some businesses (e.g. Big Oil) harder than others. "Regulators indicated that the fee could raise $1.1 million annually. Refineries, power plants and cement plants would pay nearly 90 percent of total fees. The largest gas stations might be charged $1 a year; the Safeway bakery that supplies bread to all stores in the Bay Area would pay $85 a year. The biggest emitter of the gases, the Shell oil refinery in Martinez, would have to pay $195,355, based on 2005 emissions of 4.4 million metric tons." To paraphrase Horton, a tax is a tax no matter how small. And while it would be difficult [politically] to hit-up local residents for CO2 emissions at the user end of the equation (say, a thousandth of a penny per box of organic Raisin Bran), I wouldn't it put it past these guys. 

"We are satisfied with the judge's decision," Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley told Reuters. "We feel that although the case is without merit and we proved that in court, we also believe the settlement is right for our customers." Well duh. Some 800k Ford owners and lessees file a class-action lawsuit against the Blue Oval Boyz for lost value– due to the whole Firestone/Explorer rollover deal– and FoMoCo gives them a discount towards the purchase of a new Ford. We're talking certificates good for $500 off a new Explorer, or $300 off any other Ford, Mercury or Lincoln product. Oh, and the plaintiffs' lawyers get $25m. Hang on. Say half of those people buy a new Ford. Excluding Ford's own legal fees (which are probably part of their normal overhead) and the discount itself (as usual), the marketing cost for those "disgruntled customers'" sales will cost Ford just $62.50 each. Given the money to be made on trade-ins and re-financing… Call me crazy, but this class action lawsuit thing sounds a genuine business opportunity. [props to KatiePuckrik for the link]

Pop quiz, hot shot: What's longer than a Ford Excursion, older than the Beatles' Revolver, blacker than midnight, totally devoid of seatbelts and soon heading to the Czech Republic? The pictures don't lie: a 1965 Buick LeSabre 400. Yes, the lure of a small finder's fee and my irrational obsession for anything with four wheels has once again seen me purchase a hunk of Detroit iron for a mysterious man somewhere north of Prague. Who am I to resist?

I'm sure most of you caught Mr. Niedermeyer's post about the yet to be named 7-seat SUV. Just what we need, right? One line caught me off guard, "Volkswagen has dispatched a crack team of marketers to scour the globe for the weirdest names the planet has to offer." In the words of Homer Simpson, "It's funny because it's true." Accurate, too. For as reader Mirko Reinhardt points out, VW's already got "Tiguan," "Touareg" and "Scirocco." Though I'm kinda fond of the later. Still, they're weird. And that's just in this country. In Britain they sell both the Touran and the Sharan. And how can we forget the "Crafter" or the "Routan?" Sadly, we can't. The cars of the people might drive just fine, but don't ask for them by name. But what I wonder is who's worse? Is there a manufacturer out there more inept at naming names than Volkswagen?