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

Ford Mondeo Vignale revealed – it’s back to the days of Ford Ghia

The Ford Mondeo Vignale (picture) has been revealed as Ford’s new range-topper Mainstream car makers have always tried to add some glitz and gloss to their models by tagging on a badge they thought made their cars more exclusive. Like Ford with endless ‘Ghia’ models sitting at the top of the Ford range after they bought Ghia of Turin in 1970. Ford continued to use the Ghia badge to mark out its best-equipped models until very recently (you could still buy a Fiesta Ghia as recently as 2008) but they finally dropped the badge and moved their top of the tree badge over to the ‘Titanium’ moniker.

Porsche Panamera designer focused on rear-seat passengers

There's no mistaking it for anything but a Porsche, but with four doors and four full seats, the Panamera is like no previous Porsche. Styled by a team of in-house designers under the direction of Michael Mauer, the Panamera is 195.7 inches long, 76.0 inches wide and 55.8 inches tall--making it slightly shorter but wider and lower than the Maserati Quattroporte, with which it shares a coupelike profile. As with all such silhouettes, "the real challenge is giving the rear-seat passengers enough headroom," says Mauer.

GM and PSA sign a global strategic alliance (2012)

GM and PSA Peugeot Citroen this evening announced a 'long-term and broad-scale global strategic alliance' which will see the three brands co-develop cars in Europe and, in some cases, globally. Opel/Vauxhall and Peugeot Citroen will start sharing vehicle platforms and components, with the first jointly developed models expected by 2016. The focus will be on small and medium sized cars, MPVs and crossovers, but could in future stretch to include vans and commercial vehicles.