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

The Porsche P1 is lighter, greener and more exclusive than McLaren's new hypercar

Long before the legendary Porsche 911 -- before, even, the Porsche 356 -- Ferdinand Porsche was tinkering with alternative powertrains and designing road-worthy vehicles. Though it wasn't the first vehicle to bear his name, the “Egger-Lohner electric vehicle, C.2 Phaeton model” was the earliest result of his efforts. Perhaps getting the jump on the modern alpha-numeric craze/plague, it was shortened to a simple “P1.” The P1 (we'll refer to it as the Porsche P1 from here on out to avoid confusion) made its first appearance in Vienna on June 26, 1898, and it didn't last long in the public eye: Before Porsche decided to pull it out and put it on display, it had reportedly been sitting in a warehouse, untouched, since 1902.

Tesla pays off its government loans

Tesla paid off the last of its $465 million government loans May 22, nine years ahead of schedule, thus outperforming most U.S. college graduates and the vast majority of American homeowners. Tesla used funds from a stock offering to finish the loan with a whopping bank transfer of $451.8 million Wednesday, pointing out that it was “…the only American car company to have fully repaid the government.” Apparently no one at Tesla was even born when Lee Iacocca paid off Chrysler's $1.2-billion government bailout ahead of schedule back in 1983.

2013 Porsche Panamera facelift caught on video

The facelift for the Porsche Panamera is due to arrive later in 2012 (or early 2013) and has been caught on video in Stuttgart. It’s three years since the Porsche Panamera was revealed at the 2009 Shanghai Motor Show and it’s time for Porsche’s big saloon car to get an overhaul. The 2013 Panamera, complete with cosmetic tweaks and oily updates, is something we expected to see at the Geneva Motor Show in 2013, but with what looks like almost complete cars popping up in Stuttgart perhaps the tweaked Panamera is going to bow in at Paris in September instead?