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

Whos Where: Pierre Castinel is Head of Design at Tata

Indian automaker Tata has been front page news often in recent times, first because of the impressive one-lakh Nano, which changes the automotive industry playing field, and most recently because of its acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford's Premiere Automotive Group for the tidy sum of $2.3 billion - less than half what Ford paid for both companies in 1989.  At the helm of Tata's design efforts is Pierre Castinel, Head of Design. Though only officially announced in March this year, Castinel has been active at Tata since he left Renault in summer 2007, a company he worked at for 20 years. Castinel started as a modeler for Peugeot and worked there for three years.

KIA WINS AUTO EXPRESS USED CAR SCHEME OF THE YEAR

KIA’S Approved Used Car Scheme has been recognised as the best in the industry having been crowned Used Car Scheme of the Year in the Auto Express Used Car Awards 2011. The magazine praised Kia for going above and beyond normal approved used programmes with a number of customer benefits including its industry-leading seven year warranty that is fully transferable to subsequent owners.  Approved Used Kias don’t just get the balance of their manufacturer warranty.  Instead, the warranty is topped back up to the full seven years meaning that an Approved Used Kia gets the same warranty as a brand new Kia. Commenting on the award, John Hargreaves, Head of Vehicle Remarketing, Kia Motors said: “When we launched our Approved Used Car Scheme we set out to ensure it really did represent the best possible deal for customers so we’re obviously very proud that this been recognised by Auto Express with this award.

Ford to launch 25 new models in Europe in next 5 years

The new Ford S-mAx (pictured) is just one of 25 new Fords heading for Europe Ford of Europe has had a miserable time of late, with the European market in disarray as the Eurozone crisis continues to rumble and car buyers on the continent shy away from big ticket purchases. But, just as they did in the US, Ford are making plans to cash-in when the Eurozone economy improves in the coming years (not that that’s an absolute given) and are going to ready with a raft of new models to tempt mainstream buyers when economies start to grow and car finance becomes a realistic option for more once again. Barb Samardzich, Ford’s head of product development in Europe, says Ford are planning to make their portfolio of products the best ever in anticipation of a recovery, with a huge 25 new models launching over the next five years, and they will be additions to the Ford line-up or new generations, not variants.