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

Designed in Italy, Engineered in China

"The soul of our designing is in Italy," said Silvio Petro Angori, CEO of Italian design house Pininfarina S.p.A. "We will do all styling in Italy – we will not do that in China." But in order to cater to the growing number of contracts from Chinese automakers, Pininfarina will soon begin engineering and product development in China with a center in Shanghai's suburb of Anting. Pininfarina has been working with Chinese automakers since 1996.

VW Beetle Dune at the Detroit auto show

Of all the production-leaning concept vehicles at the Detroit auto show, the Volkswagen Beetle Dune's the sort of flight of fancy nobody was looking for. Nissan's Sport Sedan heralds the look of the next Maxima, which will likely trickle down in some way to future Altimas, Sentras and Versas. It looks as if Nissan will put one of its techno-retro RWD IDx concepts into production.

SsangYong Korando 4×4 gets cheaper with arrival of the Korando SX

SssangYong has dropped the entry price for its 4WD C-Segment SUV Korando with the launch of the Korando SX. SsangYong is the Korean car maker that hasn’t yet quite managed to drag itself out of the bin marked ‘Oh, dear’, but the takeover of SsangYong by the deep-pocketed Mahindra and the launch of the seemingly convincing SsangYong Korando Crossover/SUV last year auger well. The Korando is aimed at cars like the Hyundai ix35 and Kia Sportage, and it seems a decent enough offering in a slightly generic way (even if it is penned by Giugiaro), with a 2.0 litre turbo diesel with a decent enough 173bhp and with a choice of auto or manual, FWD or 4WD.