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

Cash-for-clunkers clears 180,000 in sales, is poised for an extension

The cash-for-clunkers program has reached sales of more than 180,000--topped by the Toyota Corolla--as the Senate is poised to vote on an extension of the program on as soon as Thursday. The Ford Focus is the second-best-selling car under the program, and the Honda Civic, the Toyota Prius and the Camry complete the top five, according to Reuters. The top trade-ins were all domestics, including trucks from Ford and Dodge, as well as Jeep.

Whos Where: Pierre Castinel is Head of Design at Tata

Indian automaker Tata has been front page news often in recent times, first because of the impressive one-lakh Nano, which changes the automotive industry playing field, and most recently because of its acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford's Premiere Automotive Group for the tidy sum of $2.3 billion - less than half what Ford paid for both companies in 1989.  At the helm of Tata's design efforts is Pierre Castinel, Head of Design. Though only officially announced in March this year, Castinel has been active at Tata since he left Renault in summer 2007, a company he worked at for 20 years. Castinel started as a modeler for Peugeot and worked there for three years.

Toyota FT-86 leaks out. Well, FT-86 with Modellista extras

Toyota FT-86 leaks out (click picture for full size) It’s no real surprise that the first photos of the Toyota FT-86 in production trim have leaked out from a printed brochure ahead of the official reveal at the Tokyo Motor Show next month. After all, printers have a lead time to get hard copy brochures printed and there’s nothing that leaks quite as much as a printer with a scoop on his desk. So we get treated to what appear to be the first proper pictures of Toyota’s FT-86 (for the Subaru BRZ just add Subaru badges in your head), and it looks quite bit more aggressive than we’d expected.