Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Honda cutting production in Swindon again – 500 jobs at risk

Honda is cutting another 500 jobs in Swindon It’s only a year since Honda announced 800 job cuts at Swindon (which eventually was 550) and now they’re about to cut a further 500 as weak demand – particularly in Europe – sees the Swindon plant producing just half the cars it could. The plan is to cut shifts from 3 to 2 a day, which will result in the loss of 340 permanent jobs and 160 temporary ones, and production will be centred on just one production line to increase efficiency and flexibility. The Swindon Plant – which builds the Civic, Civic Tourer, CR-V and Jazz (and the Civic Type-R from next year) – has been hard hit by the slump in European sales in the last five years and, despite still strong UK sales, production levels of 120,000 cars a year – just half of the Swindon capacity – are not enough to sustain the current staffing levels.

Ghosn wants to expand Daimler ties; calls alliance a ‘powerhouse'

With chatter swirling about potential expansion of the Renault-Nissan alliance, CEO Carlos Ghosn on Thursday put his support directly into expanding the automakers' relationship with Daimler AG. “We know we have a powerhouse,” Ghosn said in a media roundtable at the Paris auto show. “When you add the R&D of Renault, Nissan and Daimler, we are the largest in the industry,” Ghosn said.

2015 Ford Mustang: By the numbers

We're just getting over our Detroit auto show hangover, reveling in the more-than-1000 pictures we took at the event. Among the reveals was the new 2015 Ford Mustang, which up until now, we've only seen in pictures. We have to say, its proportions are growing on us.