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

Chinese storm the US

By Liz Turner Motor Industry 14 January 2008 21:31 Two years ago, the Chinese manufacturer, Geely, parked a single saloon in the foyer of the Cobo Exhibition Centre for the auto show press day. This year five Chinese manufacturers are presenting their wares, and all have ambitions to start selling them here. Some are seeking co-operative deals with established companies, but none want the role taken by Chery, producing cars designed and engineered by Chrysler.

First Sight: Mercedes-Benz SL

The new high-tech, low weight Mercedes SL roadster receives its official global unveil next week in Detroit but Car Design News got an early peek of the final production car and had a chat with its designers at Mercedes' US advanced design studio in Carlsbad, California back in November. "We want to get back to clean, long-lasting design," director of Mercedes global advanced design and SL project leader, Steffen Kohl told CDN at the exclusive preview of the sixth-generation model. "So the new SL is long, sleek and still full of tension in the feature lines but less wedgy." In a short presentation Kohl felt all SLs became successfully iconic in their times because they followed two key rules – ‘sensuality' and ‘cleanness' – but alluded that the first rule may have been lost in more recent eras.

Mercedes Ener-G-Force concept

The Mercedes Ener-G-Force concept is Benz’s answer to the 2012 LA Design Challenge brief to create the "Highway Patrol Vehicle 2025". As the name suggests, the large SUV is also a hint towards a future redesign of the classic Geländewagen G-Wagen/G-Class. Graphically this is most evident around the Ener-G-Force’s DRG with its dark mask incorporating deep-set lamps (here with ‘G’ lamp graphics), a surprisingly traditional Mercedes grille and characteristic fender-top turn signals.