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

Daimler and Renault-Nissan strike a global partnership

Daimler today struck a wide-ranging partnership with the Renault-Nissan alliance, in a deal that will usher in new jointly developed cars, shared technologies and a multitude of cost savings.  Cars such as the new 2014 Smart Fortwo will now be twinned with the next Renault Twingo, while the Forfour is set for a comeback and we can expect plenty of shared combustion engines and electric motors, borrowed platforms and jointly developed SUV tech across all three parties. And that's only scratching the surface of the possibilities opened up by this wide-ranging deal.

New Peugeot 308 production increased to meet demand

Peugeot are increasing production of the new 308 to meet demand The new Peugeot 308 arrived in the UK in January – although it’s been on sale in Europe since last year – and it’s a decent effort from Peugeot. In fact, even though we didn’t think it was the best choice, the new 308 took the European Car of the Year Award at the Geneva Motor Show last week, a decision that’s probably been credibility by the apparent popularity of the new 308. Since the 308 went on sale late last year, Peugeot has managed to shift more than 60,000, so with the new 308 SW (Estate) about to go on sale Peugeot is ramping up production to meet current and expected demand by adding a third shift at its Sochaux Plant, creating 600 new jobs in the process.

Volvo XC60 R-design – more detail

Volvo has released more details of the XC60 R-Design Although the XC60 R-Design doesn’t get any sort of power boost, it does get some tweaks to the setup to provide a more sporty drive. Volvo has stiffened up the chassis and added more damping, and tweaked the steering ratios to give a quicker response.  But Volvo reckons this has virtually  no impact on ride quality (which begs the question ‘Why didn’t they do it to start with if there’s no trade-off’) and sensibly they have not gone down the lowered suspension route, so the XC60 still has good ground clearance. Volvo has added a rear seat entertainment package option to the XC60 On the cosmetic front, the R-Design gets body coloured lower section, matt silk metallic finish for the trim and chrome tailpipes.