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

Exclusive: Honda to Close European Design Studios

In a surprise announcement, Honda has decided to close design operations in Europe, based in Germany. The decision to shut down both the car design and motorcycle design studios of Honda R&D Europe (HRE-G) in Offenbach, near Frankfurt was taken at the end of September and came as a shock announcement to employees. It represents the latest casualty in cuts for the car design community.

Lexus Hybrid sales top half a million

Lexus has revealed that they’ve sold more than 500,000 hybrid cars, with the Rx 450h the top seller and the CT 200h catching fast. Unsurprisingly, as it was the first Lexus hybrid to be introduced in 2005, the biggest seller - accounting for half of all Lexus hybrid sales to date (259,000) – has been the RX 400h / RX 450h, but the CT 200h, which was only introduced in 2011, is catching up fast with sales to date of 122,000 to date. During the last seven years Lexus hybrid sales have risen from 26,000 to 113,000 a year and 25 per cent of those Lexus hybrid sales now happen in Europe, even though we don’t get cars like the HS 250h (56,000 sales) and the ES 300h (8,000 sales).

2012 Infiniti M35 hybrid confirmed

Infiniti confirmed on Wednesday that the M35 will include a hybrid version that arrives as a 2012 model. That's about a year after the conventionally powered M35, which launches next spring as a 2011 model. It's the first hybrid in the 20-year history of Infiniti.