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

Concept Car of the Week: Alfa Romeo BAT 7

This week sees the Concept of the Week title go to Alfa Romeo and Bertone for their collaboration on the Alfa Romeo BAT 7, the second addition to the BAT series that began in 1953 and finished in 1955. First seen at the 1954 Turin motor show, this wildly futuristic ‘dream' car came about after Alfa Romeo contacted Giuseppe "Nuccio" Bertone of the Bertone carrozeria to commission three concepts with the lowest possible drag coefficient. The cars were named BAT for "Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica." Built upon the Alfa Romeo 1900 chassis, the BAT cars featured large rear bumpers and curved fins, and the concepts achieved a drag coefficient of just 0.19 - an impressive result.

Ford Energi drivers use all-electric mode 60 percent of the time

Ford has noticed quite a few interesting things by researching how owners use their Ford plug-in hybrids. It appears that Ford owners are driving their hybrids in electric mode nearly 60 percent of the time, using their cars' 21 miles of gas-free all-electric range. This figure contrasts quite a bit with the 41 percent of all-electric drive time earlier in the year, demonstrating that winter driving patterns differ quite a bit from summer driving.

Beattie joins Fisker as prices climb

Fisker Automotive, maker of the luxury hybrid Fisker Karma, has appointed luxury-brands executive Richard Beattie to the newly created position of chief commercial officer. Beattie will be responsible for sales, marketing and customer service for the brand. Beattie comes from a strong run as executive vice president of sales and marketing for Jaguar North America and, before that, for Jaguar Land Rover North America, positions which followed a career at Ford, where he was most recently president and CEO of Mazda’s North American operations.