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

Joel Piaskowski becomes Director of Exterior Design at Ford North America

Joel Piaskowski is set to become Ford's North American Director of Exterior Design. He will be filling the position previously vacated by Moray Callum, who was promoted to Executive Director for Ford Americas design when Peter Horbury went back to head up Volvo's design efforts earlier this year. "I'm very much looking forward to working with the team at Ford," Piaskowski told Car Design News.

New Mercedes SLK caught testing

The next generation (2012) Mercedes SLK caught testing at the Nurburgring The next generation SLK looks to be more aggressive in stance, with a nose that takes on the family theme from the new Mercedes E-Class. It seems likely that the new SLK will come with a new set of engines, with more than a passing nod to eco-concerns. In will come a 1.6 litre, four-pot supercharged engine that will pick up the mantle from the old 1.8 litre Kompressor engine – same power – or more – with lower emissions and better economy.

New Mercedes SLS planned – & it won’t be a hybrid

AMG’s Tobias Moers has confirmed that a new Mercedes SLS is planned – as is a sub-SLS SLC – but it won’t come with hybrid power and electric assistance. But the Mercedes take on a supercar – the Mercedes SLS – isn’t set to go down the KERS route ant time soon according to AMG’s Director of Vehicle Development, Tobias Moers, who said that a next generation SLS – which is under development – would rely on weight saving and engine tweaking, just like the new Mercedes SLS AMG Black Series (pictured above), rather than electric assistance for its performance. Moers also said that Mercedes and AMG realised that the AMG brand doesn’t have the cachet of Ferrari and they have no plans to produce a car to go head to head with LaFerrari (or even the McLaren P1) so we won’t be seeing a hyper-SLS pushed upmarket in to the firing line of Ferrari any time soon.