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

Ferrari sales drop off a cliff

And there’s us thinking Ferrari was immune to the chaos that’s beset car makers all over the world. It’s been revealed that Ferrari’s sales in November dropped by a colossal 85% to just 92 cars, from a normal monthly production of around 600. How can this be?

Porsche uses phone-formatted bar codes to connect with customers

Porsche is harnessing the power of smartphones, using Microsoft Tag bar codes to provide dealership customers with unique information about the cars they're looking at. Buyers can scan the square stickers with a properly equipped phone, and the application will take them to dedicated microsites where they can see stats, videos and pictures of the car, along with audio clips of a flat-six engine revving up. Through the microsite, buyers can provide contact info for a follow-up call from Porsche salespeople.

GM's Ed Whitacre meets the press in Web chat

General Motors' new front man, Ed Whitacre, remains a bit of an elusive figure in the car world. But at the very least, the former telecom honcho who's now the leader of the nation's largest automaker does like cars. “Oh yes,” he answered in response to that question during a Web chat on Tuesday, one of his first interactions with the media so far in his tenure at the helm of GM.