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

Lotus's glimmer of hope: Proton stands by Hethel

After another painful year of sales for Lotus in the UK – down 58% on 2011 - Norfolk's beleagured sports car brand has kicked off the New Year with the grand unveiling of its new flagship Malaysian showroom, and the thumbs-up from senior Proton company suits that Lotus isn't on its last legs. The announcement comes in the same week Lotus’s sales figures were released for 2012. Showing a substantial 58% decrease in sales and selling just 137 vehicles, Lotus Cars was the worst performer in the UK with a woeful 0.01% share of the market.  Are Lotus's Malaysian owners sticking by the company?

SEAT lets the train take the strain

SEAT by Train from the Martorell Factory to the Port of Barcelona The building of this project started in 2005 -  a joint venture between SEAT and Autometro – as an innovative way to transport cars from the factory to the port, and has made a big difference to the traffic on Catalan roads in that time, taking more than 20,000 lorries off the roads and racking up a big saving in SEAT’s carbon footprint. Throughout 2008 the rail link transported cars on twice daily runs on double-decker carriages over 400 metres long, carrying more than 170 cars at a time. Try doing that on the roads!

Mercedes Concept Style Coupe (2012) - aka CLA

Mercedes will show the Concept Style Coupe at the 2012 Beijing motor show next week. It's a thinly veiled look at a compact coupe spun off the Merc A-class architecture - likely to wear the CLA badge. In essence this is our first look at the shrunken, baby CLS Daimler plans to launch in 2013 - and the CLA production version will be priced around £20,000.