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

Porsche 918 Spyder hits the Nurburgring (video)

The Porsche 918 Spyder – Porsche’s hybrid replacement for the Carrera GT – has been caught on video at the Nurburgring. Incredibly, it’s more that two years since Porsche took the wraps of the 918 Spyder at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, yet we’re still more than a year away from actually seeing production cars. But Porsche are putting their time to good use. Porsche has made a few cosmetic tweaks already from the original 918 Concept, but they’ve also let it be known that the 918 Spyder will get a 550bhp 4.6 litre V8 to go with its electric motors on the front wheels  (one less motor than originally envisaged – there was going to be one one the back axle too), which will make the 918 Spyder a FWD Porsche when in EV mode.

Porsche finally becomes a VW company

Volkswagen has announced it is to finalise its takeover of Porsche by buying the remaining 50.1 per cent of Porsche stock for €4.46 billion. The takeover of Porsche by VW has been a long and rocky road, but then family fallouts are always messy. It all started with Porsche attempting to consume VW, but some clever manoeuvring by Ferdinand Piech thwarted the efforts of his cousin, Wolfgang Porsche, to swallow up his business and the financial crisis saw Porsche rack up €10 billion in debt in the process.

Saab sale to NEVS delayed

The sale of what’s left of Saab to National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) has been delayed over funding and rights to the Saab name. We all thought, finally, that the end of the Saab saga had come when National Electric Vehicle Sweden was successful in gaining approval from the Saab administrators to acquire what was left of Saab after GM and Spyker failed to agree the sale of Saab as a going concern. The sad fact is that NEVS aren’t planning to carry on the proud tradition of Saab, with its innovative and quirky cars so loved by design professionals, but plan to put the Saab badge on a range of new electric cars.