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

Vauxhall, Opel, Pegueot, Citroen merger talks fail

Talks between GM Europe and PSA (Peugeot Citroen) have failed as a French government bailout for PSA looks imminent. When we reported in March that G.M. Europe (Vauxhall and Opel) has signed an agreement with PSA (Peugeot Citroen) to cut costs and share platforms we thought it a pointless gesture; the savings, compared to the huge losses, were minimal.

The Moke is back, baby!

The past two days have been quite an emotional roller coaster. First, we were crushed to hear that the end of the line is fast approaching for the rugged, beloved Land Rover Defender. Next thing we know, we're reading about the resumption of Moke production in China over at Hemmings and everything is sunshine and rainbows once again.

New Land Rover Freelander will actually be a Discovery

It seems – as we expected – that Land Rover are looking to make more sense of their range of off-roaders as new models are launched, and are going to concentrate on three core brands – Range Rover, Discovery and Defender – instead of the current mish-mash where many models really overlap with others (the top end Discoverys are really a cheaper Range Rover). So the next Freelander will become an entry-level Discovery with underpinnings borrowed from the Evoque (which is itself based on the current Freelander platform, a development of the Ford Galaxy’s platform), and arrive in both 5-seat and 7-seat guise, with the new Discovery ’5′ getting a platform based on the new Range Rover and perhaps spawning two models. The new Discovery range will be targeted as a ‘Lifestyle’ core range for Land Rover (much as the original Disco was) and the Range Rover range will be both sporty and luxurious, with a 7-seat Grand Evoque XL joining the current Evoque, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover.