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

CAR interviews Karl Schlicht, Toyota and Lexus product chief (2014)

By Damion Smy Motor Industry 07 July 2014 11:07 CAR magazine interviewed Karl Schlicht, the product chief at Toyota and Lexus, to find out how one of the world's biggest car makers is fighting to make its cars more engaging. Japan's biggest manufacturer seemingly has quality and engineering licked, but is keen to inject real desirability on its European range - and products like the GT86 sports car and recently facelifted Yaris suggest that Toyota is making strides in that direction. Read on for our full interview.

Bentley SUV (Falcon) to be built in Slovakia?

Bentley says it has 2000 pre-orders for the Bentley Falcon SUV and that it is possible the Bentley won’t be built in Crewe but in Bratislava. January’s news was that the Bentley SUV was close to being signed-off for production (we’ve heard that once or twice) and in February we learnt that Bentley have gone back to the drawing board to produce a new design under the watchful eye of Luc Donckerwolke, Bentley’s Chief Designer, which we expect to be a more dynamic one with cues from the Continental, rather than a square truck with Mulsanne headlights. So now it’s time for the March instalment of ‘Bentley SUV News‘, and we have Bentley boss Wolfgang Schreiber telling us that Bentley already has 2,000 pre-orders for their SUV (we’re guessing ‘expressions of interest’ may be closer to the truth) before the new design is shown, and before Bentley has decided whether they want to pitch their SUV just above the new Range Rover at around £150k, or do what Bentley dealers want which is a Bentley SUV costing north of £200k.

Repair work to hit key road route

A KEY ROAD ROUTE into London will be affected by closures at some weekends next summer for the completion of repair work. The summer 2014 work will be on the Hammersmith Flyover on the A4 in west London. Before that, there will be night-time lane closures starting next month as the final phase of work to strengthen the flyover's 16 spans begins.