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

Maserati’s 50,000 sales target starting to look possible

22,500 sales so far in 2013 from Maserati, thanks to cars like the Ghibli (pictured) When Sergio Marchionne revealed in 2011 that he wanted Maserati sales to hit 50,000 a year by 2015, we were all very sceptical. After all, Maserati were only managing fewer than 6,000 sales a year at that time, so a target of 50,000 a year seemed mad. But it’s starting to look a distinct possibility.

USA, UK & Germany will be top markets for the new BMW i8. You don’t say?

The BMW i8 (Pictured) will sell best in US, UK & Germany In a case of stating the obvious in a bid to keep interest in the BMW i8 high ahead of its debut at Frankfurt next month, Hendrik Wenders – the i8 product manager – has declared the biggest market for the BMW i8 will be the USA. As America is already BMW’s biggest market place, that’s not entirely a shock, and nor is the news that the UK and Germany will be the biggest markets in Europe. After all, they’re the only major economies in Europe without huge falling markets for cars.

Concept Car of the Week: BMW Turbo (1972)

Built by Michelotti in Turin and unveiled at the 1972 Paris motor show, the BMW Turbo was built both as a symbol of the carmaker's strength after its troubles in the ‘60s and as a celebration of that summer's Olympic Games in Munich. This two-door coupe, based on a modified 2002 chassis with a mid-mounted engine, was born when BMW's design director Paul Bracq convinced the board to let him design a concept that would be part design exercise, part technology testbed. Safety had become an increasingly important consideration following a number of design summits in the early ‘70s, and Bracq used the Turbo to test out a number of safety solutions.