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

Government to make UK hub for driverless cars

The government has today announced plans to make the UK a world centre for the development of driverless cars – with a £10 million cash incentive to any town or city that builds a test site for autonomous vehicles. The news comes as part of chancellor George Osborne’s 2013 Autumn Statement – alongside plans to scrap the car road tax disc and freeze fuel duty. Tax disc to be scrapped after 93 years On Bing: see pictures of driverless cars Milton Keynes is already experimenting with driverless pods – with plans to introduce a trial in 2015.

GM awards small-car production to Michigan plant

General Motors will make its new subcompact car in Orion Township, Mich., the automaker said Friday, dashing hopes in Spring Hill, Tenn., and Janesville, Wis., that the small car would keep one of their factories alive. Stamping for the new car will take place in Pontiac, Mich., GM said in a statement. The small car, which GM said it plans to start producing in 2011, will save about 1,200 jobs in Orion and 200 in Pontiac.

Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid: Production underway

The world’s first production plug-in diesel hybrid – the Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid – has gone in to production ahead of customer deliveries. Volvo are producing just 1,000 2013 V60 plug-ins, but are aiming to up production to between 4-6,000 a year from the 2014 model year and, despite the problems of integrating the V60′s complicated electric stuff in to a production car, the V60 plug-in is rolling down the same production line as the regular V60, V70, S80 and XC90. That complicated stuff includes two different powertrains and a battery pack – enough for up to 32 miles as an EV only – and a total of 300 additional parts compared to a regular ICE V60.