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

Carl-Peter Forster a candidate to lead Jaguar Land Rover

Jaguar Land Rover is parting company with its chief executive, David Smith, potentially clearing the way for former Opel and BMW boss Carl-Peter Forster to take control. Forster has been linked with a senior role at Jaguar Land Rover for some months. Executives at Indian automaker Tata Motors, which bought the British brands from Ford in 2008, were rumored to have been taking soundings on whether Forster was the right man for job.

Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid: Production underway

The world’s first production plug-in diesel hybrid – the Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid – has gone in to production ahead of customer deliveries. Volvo are producing just 1,000 2013 V60 plug-ins, but are aiming to up production to between 4-6,000 a year from the 2014 model year and, despite the problems of integrating the V60′s complicated electric stuff in to a production car, the V60 plug-in is rolling down the same production line as the regular V60, V70, S80 and XC90. That complicated stuff includes two different powertrains and a battery pack – enough for up to 32 miles as an EV only – and a total of 300 additional parts compared to a regular ICE V60.

Tesla Model S outselling Chevrolet Volt & Nissan LEAF

Tesla never managed to make any money out of their electric Lotus – the Tesla Roadster – but it does look like they’re on to a winner with their electric  executive saloon, the Tesla Model S. Despite moans that the headline-grabbing sub-$50k Model S was never a reality – and a starting point of $70k – the Model S looks set to outsell the two most successful ‘alternatively fuelled’ cars – the electric Nissan LEAF and the range extender Chevrolet Volt – in the first quarter of 2013. Sales of the electric Nissan LEAF, which costs from $29k in the US, in the first quarter of 2013 were 3,965 units and the Chevrolet Volt, which costs from $40k, sold 4,421 units.