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

How Fisker fell apart

At last week's politically charged congressional hearing on the troubles of Fisker Automotive, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said that the company had "no business acumen" and that "taxpayers have effectively subsidized luxury novelty vehicles for the likes of Justin Bieber, Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore." Ouch. Republicans eager to score points against President Obama had a field day last week with Fisker.

Video: The Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo concept build process

Porsche has released a video featuring Style Director Michael Mauer charting the design process of the Panamera Sport Turismo concept. The 10-minute YouTube video, which also features General Manager Advanced Design Style Mitja Rorkert, follows the build process through each modeling phase right up until the presentation of the show car at this year's Paris motor show. "It always presents a special challenge when we develop a new kind of car for the Porsche brand," says Mauer, "precisely because we haven't been in the segment before, and the question of whether it matches the Porsche brand always looms in the background." We were impressed at the Panamera Sport Turismo concept's unveiling, particularly with its stance and detail execution, so the video is a chance to see just how this concept came into being.

Hyundai i30 hits a million

Hyundai has revealed it has now built more than a million i30s with European sales accounting for 500,000 of those sales. Get over the latent badge snoberry and the Hyundai i30 is a family car that can be considered a real alternative to the leading cars in its sector – the VW Golf and Ford Focus – with a good combination of style, equipment, decent driving dynamics and cost. Set aside that badge snobbery and any buyer looking for a family car should really have these three – the i30, Golf and Focus - on their top three list; the rest is down to a subjective judgement.