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

Ellesmere Port's bid to build Ampera hits snags

By Rob Golding Motor Industry 09 October 2009 15:02 Prime minister Gordon Brown’s personal crusade to get Vauxhall's version of the Chevrolet Volt petrol-electric plug-in hybrid – the Ampera – built in Britain's Ellesmere Port factory in 2012 is a dream delayed, CAR can disclose today.News that the UK Astra plant is the best in Europe, that the Astra's Delta platform will underpin the Ampera, and that Volt will be on US sale from 2010 had been taken to mean that Vauxhall would be churning out the cars in the north west within three years.But the prospect of an electric car industry growing up around the run-down Merseyside manufacturing site is not imminent, CAR has learned.'No Ampera to be built in Europe before 2015'Vauxhall insiders have made it clear that the car to be known as the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera in Europe will be an import from the US for at least five years. One senior planner told us: 'The US will be the sole source of Amperas until at least 2015.'Bob Lutz, GM's former product supremo who recently came out of retirement as a PR, said that the low value of the dollar made the US an ideal site for the manufacturing of export cars. And with forecast sticker prices of the range-extender electric car standing at a scary £35,000+, every price saving is vital to its marketability.The European market also needs time to get its electricity recharge infrastructure in place before it is worth making cars onshore in volume, GM high-ups point out.

Fiat to build crossover on 500 platform

Fiat plans to start production of a crossover variant of its 500 minicar next year. The new model will be called the 500X, with the letter X standing for cross, company sources told Automotive News Europe. The car will replace the Sedici in Fiat's Europe lineup.

Chrysler Nassau Concept (2007): first official pictures

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 08 January 2007 06:24 Chrysler Nassau Concept: the lowdown You're looking at Chrysler's new sampler for a shooting brake: the Nassau concept newly unveiled in Detroit. Design boss Trevor Creed heralded it as 'a new, more emotional Chrysler.' Although the same size as the mean-'n'-moody 300C saloon, the Nassau is designed to look smaller, with more delicate surface treatments, a subtler new eggcrate grille and a slimmer, more European hatchback rear end. The Nassau portrays more compact dimensions, despite rolling on huge 10-spoke, 22in alloy wheels.