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

Nissan raises Leaf prices, adds retail markets

Nissan North America said Tuesday that it will add $2,420 to the price of the base model of its hard-to-get, slow-to-build electric Leaf sedan. Compared to 2011 model year's $33,630 base price, including delivery, the 2012 model will begin at $36,050. The car's upper-grade SL model will sell for $38,100, an increase of $3,530 over 2011.

Video: Jaguar's Julian Thomson on the importance of design values

Jaguar's Head of Advanced Design, Julian Thomson, appeared at this month's PSFK Conference in London giving a talk on design values. Thomson's talk, ‘Concepting Dreams, Making Reality Happen', dealt with questions of creating a design story as well as how Jaguar uses the value of its heritage while keeping things original and new. Thomson – the man behind the 2010 C-X75 and the recently revealed F-Type – said, "You can't get a good design story if you don't look at your heritage, where you came from, where your values came from." He went on to discuss the ‘sad years of Jaguar', from around 1968 to 2004 where Jaguar was too timid to develop and "essentially made the same-looking car." He put this down to a reluctance on Jaguar's part to move too far away from its successful models and, quite interestingly, because "not only did we start doing market research, we started asking Americans what they wanted." Watch the full video on the left.

Jaguar XF Diesel S (2008): first details

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 29 December 2008 00:31 Jaguar today announces a family of new higher-powered diesel engines, led by a rapid 271bhp version of the derv XF that's aimed squarely at the BMW 535d. It's the fastest diesel Jag ever – and will also slot into the XK coupe and cabrio.The diesel work-out is good news for the XF – today's 2.7-litre V6 turbodiesel doesn't have the clout to mix it with the best German engines. We've already complained about the slothful performance of our long-term test XF and the new, bigger 3.0-litre oil-burner should answer such criticisms.