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

Ellesmere Port's bid to build Ampera hits snags

By Rob Golding Motor Industry 09 October 2009 15:02 Prime minister Gordon Brown’s personal crusade to get Vauxhall's version of the Chevrolet Volt petrol-electric plug-in hybrid – the Ampera – built in Britain's Ellesmere Port factory in 2012 is a dream delayed, CAR can disclose today.News that the UK Astra plant is the best in Europe, that the Astra's Delta platform will underpin the Ampera, and that Volt will be on US sale from 2010 had been taken to mean that Vauxhall would be churning out the cars in the north west within three years.But the prospect of an electric car industry growing up around the run-down Merseyside manufacturing site is not imminent, CAR has learned.'No Ampera to be built in Europe before 2015'Vauxhall insiders have made it clear that the car to be known as the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera in Europe will be an import from the US for at least five years. One senior planner told us: 'The US will be the sole source of Amperas until at least 2015.'Bob Lutz, GM's former product supremo who recently came out of retirement as a PR, said that the low value of the dollar made the US an ideal site for the manufacturing of export cars. And with forecast sticker prices of the range-extender electric car standing at a scary £35,000+, every price saving is vital to its marketability.The European market also needs time to get its electricity recharge infrastructure in place before it is worth making cars onshore in volume, GM high-ups point out.

Dodge Demon (2007): first official pictures

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 12 February 2007 09:59 Dodge Demon: the lowdown Dodge is a brand intent on filling every niche going, it seems. The American firm used to be known in Britain only for its V10-powered Viper supercar, but it's expanding like there's no tomorrow - and this MX-5-rivalling Demon roadster, unveiled today, could be next. It's a high-fun, low-price two-seater aimed squarely at the Mazda soft-top.

Vettel and Webber make it a 1-2 for Red Bull in China

Red Bull's Vettel and Webber celebrate their 1-2 in Shanghai [ad#ad-1] This is the most topsy-turvy start to a Grand Prix season in many a year. First we have a rookie team – Brawn GP, which didn’t even exist a few weeks ago – taking the lead and winning the first two races of the season. And now, in Shanghai at the Chinese Grand Prix, Red Bull has achieved its first ever F1 win with a stunning 1-2 by drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber After two days of high temperatures and sunshine the Shanghai Grand Prix set off in a procession behind the safety car in torrential rain, and stayed that way for the first eight laps.