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.

SPD starts collaboration with VW Group Design on Masters program

Scuola Politecnica di Design (SPD) and Volkswagen Group Design are starting a new five year collaboration program focused on the development of experimental mobility projects for Lamborghini, Audi and Volkswagen. The Milan, Italy-based university is offering eight scholarships to participate to the one year Master Program in Car and Transportation Design, which will take place from 21 October 2010 to October 2011. The university is currently accepting applications from students and professionals from all over the world, with the aim of providing training with the protagonists of automotive design.

Fiat 500L: Now it’s the ‘Fatherhood’ video

Fiat has followed up their viral ‘Motherhood’ video for the new 500L with a new version to balance the gender bias – ‘Fatherhood’. That was because Fiat managed to tap in to the woes of parenthood (or, more precisely, motherhood) with a bit of a hip-hop ditty by a vexed young mother, bemoaning the changes motherhood has wrought on her life. It was a clever bit of marketing to target grown-up lovers of Fiat’s funky little 500, with the family sized version of their favourite car offering solace for a very different lifestyle.