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

Report: Interior Motives China Conference 2011 – Day 1

Over 300 industry delegates gathered for the opening day of the annual Interior Motives China conference, which this year takes place in Shanghai, just a few days prior to the opening of the international auto show on Tuesday. Interior Motives is CDN's print magazine and this is its 4th annual gathering in China. The title of this year's conference is 'The challenge of being different: establishing a local design direction for China's maturing market', a pertinent topic now China has become the biggest new car market in the world.

Winners announced in Chinese Auto Design Awards 2011

Winners in the fourth Chinese Auto Design Awards have finally been announced. Held at the China Agriculture Film and Television Center in Beijing, the glamourous ceremony saw awards given to two groups; students and automotive manufacturers. Amongst the automotive groups, it was GAC Trumpchi that was awarded the ‘Best Design Innovation Award', whilst Buick's picked up the ‘Golden Dot Award' for its ‘Envision' concept car.

New Mercedes A45 AMG has 105 years of 4WD on its side

With the new Mercedes A45 AMG on the horizon – complete with 4WD – Mercedes chart the history of all wheel drive on their vehicles. We tend to think of 4WD road cars as a modern innovation, and certainly very few 4WD road cars hit the road in a mainstream way much before the 1980s (the Jensen FF was hardly mainstream before someone points out that was in the 1960s). But the history of 4WD goes back, certainly in the case of Mercedes, a surprising 105 years when Daimler built the Dernburg-Wagen, a 4WD vehicle that not only got all-wheel drive but all wheel steering too.