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

Karmann files for insolvency

Karmann, the century-old German coachbuilder synonymous with cabrios and the famous 1950s Karmann Ghia, has filed for insolvency. The company made the move Wednesday in Germany in response to a dramatic decline in revenue, an inability to pay for its massive layoff plan and the worldwide economic crisis. The North American operations, which make convertible tops for Detroit car companies and Volkswagen, are not affected, a spokesman said.

Volkswagen Passat (2011): the American one

Volkswagen has unveiled the US version of the Passat at the 2011 Detroit auto show. VW’s European customers won’t be able to buy it, but will be interested in the price: despite being longer and wider than the car offered in Europe it will start from just £13,000 before taxes for a 168bhp five-cylinder petrol. The nearest petrol Passat costs £19,529 in the UK.

2011 Mazda2 Facelift revealed

The Mazda2 gets tweaked for 2011 Well, it’s sort of the 2011 facelift for the Mazda2, but that rather depends on what direction you come at this from. If you look at the UK and Euro offerings for the last year this is definitely a new nose and interior tweaks for the Mazda 2, but if you read our report in October 2009 about Mazda 2s coming off the production line in Thailand you’ll see that our ‘New, Facelift Mazda 2′ looks exactly the same as the Mazda 2 Facelift the Thai car got almost two years ago. But we have to be sensible and look at this from a domestic point of view – even if we do find it off that Mazda has taken two years to give the UK and Europe the updates coming out of Thailand two years ago.