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

The scramble for scarce tires

North American automakers are struggling with a nagging shortage of tires, caused in part by tire plant closings and rising demand for low-volume specialty tires. Automakers are paying much higher prices -- double-digit percentage increases from a year ago -- as tire makers gain pricing power. "We have been bombarded from every side for additional tires, and we can't keep up," said David O'Donnell, Continental Tire's vice president of original equipment in the Americas.

Jaguar puts C-X75 supercar on ice

Jaguar has reversed its plan to sell the C-X75 hybrid supercar, fearing the project could be a commercial failure unable to recoup its investment. ‘After a thorough reassessment of the market conditions, the company’s view is that the global economic landscape does not currently support the introduction of a supercar such as C-X75,’ said Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar global brand director. Together with project partner Williams F1, Jaguar has built five prototypes of the plug-in hybrid.

Merdad vision of the Range Rover Evoque – the Evoque Mer-Nazz

The Merdad Evoque Mer-Nazz We’re already starting to see the first efforts of the pimpers, tuners, modders and customisers on the new Range Rover Evoque surfacing, and the latest is the Merdad Evoque Mer-Nazz Regular readers with good memories will remember Merdad as the man unfortunate enough to be the UK arm of the Gemballa operation when everything went wrong for Uwe Gemballa. That meant the end of Gemballa in the UK, but Merdad has bounced back with his now eponymous company to create extreme cars for those with tastes for more unsubtle forms of car customisation. Merdad’s first effort was a very Gembala-esque two-door Cayenne, but he went British with a subsequent effort when he created the McLaren MP4-12C MehRon, which we took to be an homage to Ron Dennis.