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

Volkswagen Passat CC at Detroit show 2008

By James Foxall First Official Pictures 14 January 2008 03:26 The Volkswagen Passat CC might look like the bastard offspring of a shady encounter between a Phaeton and a CLS, but the German firm is hoping the new Passat spin-off will attract buyers after premium car style for a relatively affordable price. When it hits UK showrooms in late summer 2008, expect the four-seat, four-door CC – it stands for Comfort Coupe – to have a sticker price starting at around £19,000. This will make it less than half the price of its most affordable rival, the Mercedes CLS.

Car Designers Blackmailed

A London court has found former design student Guy Lloyd-Parker guilty of blackmailing US car designers. The London College of Fashion graduate had claimed that 95 car design sketches were stolen from him by two college lecturers in 1994, eventually resurfacing as final designs in the form of the Audi TT, BMW Z3, Mazda RX-8 and the Volvo XC90. Lloyd-Parker, having failed to successfully sue the college, began sending menacing letters to California-based Volvo Design Director Geza Loczi, former BMW and Aston Martin designer Henrik Fisker, and ex-Mazda designer Tsutomu Matano demanding £90,000.

Nissan confirms IDx for production

Nissan will produce at least one of the IDx concepts shown at the Detroit auto show. Vice president Andy Palmer said at the show, “Don’t say that we won’t do both, but we will definitely do one of them.” That statement confused us a bit, especially with the positioning of Nismo as upgraded versions of the company’s normal cars. Surely, the Freeflow could be repainted and improved into a Nismo version.