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

RCA students redesign classic cars for Salon Privé

Eleven postgraduates from the Royal College of Art's Vehicle Design program have redesigned and modernized past Concours-winning cars for the ‘Concours of the Future' design exhibition at this year's Salon Privé in London. Concours of the Future, a first for the Salon Privé, will be showcased on 4 July before being judged the next day by a panel chaired by automotive designer and RCA visiting professor Peter Stevens. The judging panel is made up of Dale Harrow, head of the RCA Vehicle Design program and some of the biggest names in car design: Giles Taylor, director of design at Rolls-Royce; Peter Schreyer, chief design officer at Hyundai and Kia and Peter Horbury, vice president – design at Geely.

Seven-seater for Cadillac?

Cadillac won’t comment, but it’s all over the Web that General Motors’ luxury division will get a version of the seven-seat sport-utility known internally as Lambda--externally known as the Chevrolet Traverse, the Buick Enclave and the GMC Acadia. No word on the Cadillac’s engine, but the other variants are powered by a 3.6-liter V6 varying in horsepower from 281 hp to 288 hp. Lambdas sell well, with more than 70,000 sold so far this year.

2013 VW Beetle Convertible arrives

The new 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible has been revealed ahead of a launch at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. The new Beetle Convertible is due to bow in at the LA Auto Show in November  but VW obviously decided it was pragmatic to get an early reveal out of the way before the new Bug soft top trickled on to the Interwebs of its own accord. What we get is what we expected (although we did hold out a little hope the new Beetle Cabriolet would look more like the E-Bugster Cabriolet Concept); a convertible version of the 2012 Beetle with a pram style soft top that sits on the boot.