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

BMW makes 1,000 workers permanent

AROUND 1,000 agency workers at car giant BMW are to be made permanent employees, guaranteeing job security for years. The change, being made in two phases, was warmly welcomed by the Unite union, describing it as a great Christmas present. The announcement covers workers across a number of BMW sites including the Mini plant in Oxford, pressings plant in Swindon and Hams Hall engine site near Birmingham.

One Lap of the Web: New Transformers, home-built cars and two Mercury Marauders

We spend a lot of time on the Internet -- pretty much whenever we're not driving, writing about or working on cars. Since there's more out there than we'd ever be able to cover, here's our daily digest of car stuff on the Web you may not otherwise have heard about. -- Michael Bay has been releasing the cars of “Transformers 4” for the past couple of months, and the latest one to be revealed is the Pagani Huayra (“why-ra”).

Maeda named new Mazda design boss, replacing van den Acker

Ikuo Maeda is the new head of design at Mazda Motor Corp. The man who is credited with styling the Mazda's flagship sports car takes over for Dutchman Laurens van den Acker, 43, who has decided to leave the company "to pursue other interests," the automaker said in a statement today. Van den Acker, who joined Mazda in 2006, will remain at the automaker until April 10 to ensure a smooth transition for Maeda, Mazda said.