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

Video: GM's Clay Dean on the future of urban mobility

Clay Dean is the star of a new Faces of GM video, Anticipating the Driving Experience of the Future. The global design director for GM's Advanced Design Group, whose job also entails exploring future transportation design solutions, talks about the need to avoid short-term thinking on urban mobility, as by 2030 60 percent of the world's population will live in cities. As new challenges start to emerge, such as increasing congestion, Dean believes it is time to start thinking about transportation in a completely different way.

New Mercedes B-Class Electric Drive goes in to production

The first Mercedes B-Class ED (pictured) rolls off the production line in Rastatt With the BMW i3 grabbing headlines – and flying out of showrooms – as BMW’s first electric car, Mercedes need to play catch-up with a convincing EV of their own, and that’s the new B-Class Electric Drive – an EV version of the regular B-Class – which has now gone in to production in Germany. Built alongside regular ICE versions of the B-Class at Mercedes’ Rastatt Plant, the B-Class ED (Electric Drive) looks practically the same as its more conventionally powered siblings – although the front bumper does look a bit different – and has an electric motor good for 177 bhp and 250 lb/ft of torque, can manage a scoot to 62 mph in 7.9 seconds and has a range of up to 124 miles. The range – at least the quoted range – is a chunk better than the BMW i3′s and on a par with the latest Nissan LEAF, thanks to EV technology provided by Tesla, and the wrapping of an EV drivetrain in a conventional series production car could appeal to more buyers than the ‘statement’ design of the BMW i3.

2011 Infiniti G37 updates & plans to double sales

2011 Infiniti G37 Convertible It’s not five minutes since Infiniti introduced the G37 – a 3-Series size car – to the UK and Europe, but already they’re tweaking and titivating to make it more appealing. The Infiniti G37 range consists of three body styles – saloon, coupe and convertible – and all three get the 3.7 litre V6 and a seven-speed auto ‘box with paddle-shift  as standard, with new alloys and paint colours offered across the range. The Infiniti G Saloon comes in four flavours – G37, G37x GT, G37 x GT Premium and G37 S Premium.