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

Volkswagen Beetle Dune IS going in to production – expect it in 2016

The VW Beetle Dune (above) will hit showrooms in 2016 Volkswagen went back to its Beetle history with the VW Beetle Dune Concept at Detroit in January, a car that looked close to production-ready even if VW were adamant it was just a concept. There was no more new on the Beetle Dune until late last month when, for no apparent reason, a raft of new photos of the Beetle Dune were released by Volkswagen with the only rationale being they had made the decision to make the Dune a production car. And they have.

Art Center BMW/Exa project

There's a new sponsored project that is just getting under way at Art Center College of Design, the likes of which hasn't been seen in a very long time - if at all. The school's Transportation Design department has helped bring together BMW with Exa Corporation, a Boston-based virtual aerodynamic simulation company, and has tasked the students to re-design the current BMW X5 Sports Activity Vehicle with the hope of dramatically increasing its aerodynamic efficiency while still retaining the BMW flagship SAV design language. This brief is quite timely in the context of the industry's ongoing focus with sustainability and strikes at the core of the BMW Group's long term energy strategy known as the concept of Efficient Dynamics.

2011 Mercedes C63 AMG: Now it’s official

2011 Mercedes C63 AMG - now it's official It’s more than a month since we published leaked photos of the 2011 Mercedes C63 AMG. We also had an extra set of snaps last week, but they told us nothing we didn’t already know so we didn’t publish them. We also reckoned Mercedes were about to reveal the 2011 Mercedes C63 AMG officially so we may as well wait.