Sure, it’s the dead of winter now, but in a few months you may be wishing you’d sprung for those A/C seats. Ask.cars.com looks at SUVs equipped with the seat-cooling system. Then, PickupTrucks.com is stationed in Chile and Argentina to cover the 2009 Dakar Rally. Check out highlights from the grueling race across two South American countries. Finally, to kick off 2009, MotherProof.com has a list of all the features you’ll want when you purchase your next car.

Which 2009 SUVs Have Front A/C Seats? (Ask.cars.com)
Pickup Trucks of the 2009 Dakar Rally (PickupTrucks.com)
My New Car Wish List (MotherProof.com)

The final chapter on 2008 has now closed, as automakers reported their final sales figures today. We’ll break out some of the biggest winners and losers of the year in a separate post, but first we wanted to put together the final list of 2008’s best-selling cars, SUVs and trucks.

Even after sky-high gas prices and an economic meltdown, the top performers haven’t really changed. Trucks like the Ford F-Series and Chevy Silverado still outperformed any car on the market. And besides the long-running economy car picks of the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, there weren’t any tiny, fuel-sipping cars on the list.

We also list the top car sales for the month of December, where the biggest move was made by the Chevy Malibu: It’s now the No. 3 midsize sedan on the market behind the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, besting Nissan Altima sales by a whopping 44 units.

The Top 10 Best-Selling Cars of 2008

• Ford F-Series: 515,513
• Chevy Silverado: 465,065
• Toyota Camry: 436,617
• Honda Accord: 372,789
• Toyota Corolla: 351,007
• Honda Civic: 339,289
• Nissan Altima: 269,668
• Chevy Impala: 265,840
• Dodge Ram: 245,840
• Honda CR-V: 197,279

December 2008’s Top 10 Best-Selling Cars

• Ford F-150: 41,580
• Chevy Silverado: 33,340
• Toyota Camry: 25,275
• Honda Accord: 22,348
• Toyota Corolla: 22,129
• Chevy Impala: 21,148
• Chevy Malibu: 17,355
• Nissan Altima: 17,311
• Honda Civic: 17,302
• Dodge Ram: 16,618

Tribute Restaurant — named one of the nation's best restaurants by the New York Times, Gourmet and Zagat — will discount meals by 50% to owners of domestic cars this week. The French restaurant in Farmington Hills, Mich., is offering a unique “tribute” to the industry that has brought in a lot of business diners over the years.

Through Saturday, Ford owners, employees and customers – including suppliers — will get 50% off their dinner or Sunday brunch. The week after that, GM loyalists will get the same deal, and the following week will be Chrysler’s turn. On the final week of the promotion — the week of Jan. 25 — all three will get the discount.

This is more fallout of a struggling economy in which both high-end restaurants and automakers are trying to entice customers to spend money. According to Frommer’s, the price of a main course at Tribute ranges from $18-$39. The restaurant will ask to see car keys or the car’s registration to apply the discount.

American Car Owners Get Discount At Restaurant (MSNBC)

Losing a job is bad. Losing a job shortly after buying a new car is worse. Hyundai wants to remove a small bit of uncertainty from the car-buying process with the Hyundai Assurance Program.

The Assurance Program guarantees customers that, should they find themselves in the midst of an “unexpected loss of income” during their first year owning a Hyundai vehicle, they can return that car with little to no penalty. In other words, if you lose your job during that first year, you get a do-over with your new-car purchase.

Getting into the fine print, Hyundai defines a life-changing event as a job loss, bankruptcy, physical disability, loss of license due to medical impairment, or death. Assurance also only protects consumers for $7,500 of vehicle depreciation. Above and beyond that, they’ll have to pay out of pocket.

While the program certainly sounds like peace of mind in uncertain times, we have to wonder how it will work in real-world circumstances. Do you have to show up at the dealership with your pink slip? Also, it’s only fair to point out that losing a job and a car simultaneously is devastating, but what if you sold your previous means of transportation and put that money toward a down payment? What becomes more important: your credit score, or a way to get to the next job interview?

The global economic crisis is impacting the automotive industry in more ways than one. As every automaker re-evaluates its place in the market, some hard cuts have to be made. Suzuki has been developing its largest sedan to date, the Kizashi, but according to reports it’s now putting the car on hold indefinitely.

Primed to compete in the midsize segment globally, the Kizashi would have been smaller than most of the competition, like the Honda Accord. That’s mainly because cars like the Accord and Mazda6 have grown significantly with recent redesigns.

The Kizashi concept cars had been auto-show favorites, and near-production versions had been spotted by automotive enthusiasts on the road. But Suzuki has seen sales plummet everywhere, including India, where it has a 50% market share.

Report: Suzuki Shelves Plans To Develop Large Vehicle For Global Market (GreenCar Congress)

The company known more for its fictional 1980s spokesman, Joe Isuzu, than its cars is officially out of the new-car game. Even though most Isuzu dealers closed up shop long ago, some were still selling the company’s pickup trucks and SUVs throughout 2008, to the tune of more than 7,000 units.

But no longer; while Isuzu will still sell commercial trucks in the U.S. and offer service on its past products, it will no longer sell new vehicles as of Jan. 31.

As we work our way through all the details of the upcoming Detroit auto show, this bit of news doesn’t really seem to impact the automotive landscape. If you have fond or not-so-fond memories of Isuzu, let us know in the comments.

No Lie: Isuzu to End Sales in North America (KBB)

The midsize family sedan segment has plenty of heavy hitters, and if you’re in the market for one, there’s an overwhelming amount to consider. Cars.com can give you an assist, though, by directly comparing three of the heaviest of heavies: the Mazda6, the Honda Accord, and the sales behemoth Toyota Camry. Three of our experts face the three vehicles off against each other, feature-by-feature, to determine which one will give you the most bang for your buck and which is the best overall. Check out the full comparison and feel free to let us know your thoughts on one of the most popular segments in the U.S.

Cars.comparison: Family Sedans (Cars.com) 

Movies, music, navigation, phone, internet — we want it all, and we want it in our car. Those devices add up quickly in terms of cost and storage, though, which is why Dashboard Devices has devised a piece of tech that can handle all these things in one in-dash unit.

The ENV-100 incorporates all of it (sorry, no kitchen sink) and can fit into existing dashboards in two standard DIN slots — no wires or prongs or adhesive tape necessary. It would be about as big as a manufacturer-installed navigation unit. Dashboard Devices plans to unveil the final concept for the ENV-100 and its other in-car computers at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas

Sounds great to us, but it looks a tad bulky. We’ll find out more in person when KickingTires covers a range of automotive-related gadgets live at CES this week.

Dashboard Devices Hopes to Corner In-Car Computer Market (Jalopnik)