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

Subaru's first diesel shown

By Ben Barry First Official Pictures 08 March 2007 08:32 Hold on, where’s the rally car? Subaru may have transformed its reputation from builder of dull-but-sturdy farmermobiles to maker of fast-and-furious racers with a little help from Burns and McRae, but the game’s moved on and not everyone’s impressed by sub-20mpg Imprezas anymore. Besides, Subaru’s WRC outfit isn’t exactly competitive these days.

Who's Where: John Puskar and Liz Wetzel appointed to new roles at GM Design

As part of an ongoing strategy at General Motors, this past month has seen a series of moves taking place within the company's design organization in Europe and the US. Two of the key changes have been the appointment of John Puskar to the role of Director of Cross-Brand Strategy, C&T and Components in North America, and that of Liz Wetzel, who has been named Director of GME Design Interior – effectively filling Puskar's role. Puskar, who until recently headed the Opel/Vauxhall Interior Design at the European Design Center in Russelsheim, Germany, majored in Industrial Design at the Cleveland Institute of Art and worked at Ford in both the USA and Germany before joining General Motors as a creative designer at the GMC Brand Center in 1999.

BMW ActiveE – the BMW 1-Series Electric – at Detroit

BMW has reveled the BMW Concept ActiveE at the Detroit Motor Show BMW obviously think there’s room for more than just the MINI E to be punted round the roads by Joe Public to shake out all the wrinkles in their electric car gubbins as they’ve brought along the BMW ActiveE Concept to the Detroit Motor Show – basically an electric BMW 1 Series – which we first reported on back in December. The ActiveE Concept gets a rear mounted electric motor that divvies up 170bhp. Unlike the MINI E BMW has managed to stick the batteries under the car instead of ripping out the back seats to store them.